ielo expands its fibre network to 40 new cities across France

ielo, the French independent and neutral fibre infrastructure operator, is rolling out its infrastructure across 40 additional cities, extending a network that already spans more than 3,300 municipalities and can reach over 80% of businesses in France.

The first 20 cities are now commercially live, with the remaining locations set to come online progressively over the coming months. Across every new market, ielo is deploying the same infrastructure model: neutral, consistent and purpose-built for B2B connectivity.

Building infrastructure where partners need it

The expansion is part of ielo’s long-term strategy to bring its own fibre infrastructure closer to the business areas served by its operator partners, supporting the connectivity requirements of their enterprise customers, data centres and public-sector organisations across France.

At the heart of this strategy is a model ielo has followed since its inception: remaining independent, neutral and entirely focused on fibre infrastructure.

Rather than competing with its customers at the service layer, ielo provides the underlying infrastructure that enables operators to build and deliver their own connectivity services while retaining full ownership of the customer relationship.

A consistent network across France

ielo currently operates more than 22,000 km of metropolitan fibre, interconnected by a 12,000 km long-haul network.

But scale is only part of the story. The same network architecture and the same design, deployment and operational standards are used across ielo’s footprint, giving partners a consistent infrastructure experience from one city to the next.

This standardised approach also brings greater agility. With teams working within the same technical environment across France, ielo can rely on proven processes to deliver connectivity services quickly while maintaining consistently high service levels.

Much of the expertise required to build and operate the network is kept in-house, supported by a trusted ecosystem of specialist partners. From network engineering and design through to deployment and field operations across its 12 Regional Technical Centres, and network monitoring from its NOC, ielo retains direct control over the critical capabilities behind its infrastructure.

This operating model gives ielo end-to-end control of its network, supporting the service quality and continuity its customers depend on.

20 new cities already live

The first phase of the programme is now complete across six French regions:

Bretagne
Saint-Malo (35) • Dinard (35)

Centre-Val de Loire
Châteauroux (36) • Issoudun (36) • Châteaudun (28) • Vendôme (41)

Hauts-de-France
Dunkirk (59) • Calais (62)

Normandie
Auberville (14) • Deauville (14) • Trouville (14) • Val-de-Reuil (27)

Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Angoulême (16) • Périgueux (24) • Libourne (33) • Limoges (87) • Pau (64) • Brive-la-Gaillarde (19)

Occitanie
Tarbes (65) • Castres (81)

Together, these new locations give operators access to a potential market of more than 200,000 businesses.

“Our model has proven itself, and we are continuing to invest for the long term in building a high-quality network across France and providing operators with a genuine alternative to integrated players. This latest rollout is about extending our footprint where our partners need us most and bringing them the agility they expect, while staying true to what we are: a neutral infrastructure operator,” said Arthur Fernandez, CEO of ielo.

Infrastructure built for B2B connectivity

ielo provides fibre infrastructure to telecom operators, data centres and public-sector organisations across France, with a portfolio spanning dark fibre, wavelengths, Lan-to-Lan, FTTO, IP transit and colocation.

The latest rollout is another step in ielo’s growth strategy: combining nationwide reach, deep metropolitan coverage and direct control of its infrastructure to give B2B connectivity providers a neutral, high-performance and independent alternative to integrated operator models.