On 5 February 2018, the Managing Director of the French Telecoms Federation, Michel Combot, alongside representatives from the mobile telephony operators Bouygues Telecom, Free, Orange and SFR, held the inauguration of a multi-operator site as part of the initiative to extend coverage to the white zones in Villeneuve-du-Latou in Ariège. They were joined by:

• Julien Denormandie, State Secretary to the Ministry of Territorial Cohesion ;
• Henri Nayrou, Chairman of the Departmental Council for Ariège ;
• Alain Duran, Senator for Ariège ;
• Philippe Jaloux, Mayor of Villeneuve-du-Latou.

Video :

The site serves the commune of Villeneuve-du-Latou (167 inhabitants) with maximum theoretical speeds of several Mbps. It was mutualised voluntarily by the four network operators.

There are 57 communes in Ariège registered with the “White Zones – Rural Communities” programme, of which 54, having a pylon, have mobile internet access* via mutualisation as of 31 December 2017. As regards Gudas, Segura and Ustou, the three communes that joined the programme in February 2016 and are yet to receive coverage, the aim now is to construct pylons and activate mobile services.

As of 31 December 2017, 3,298 communes in the “White Zones – Rural Communities” programme (of which 1,260 are mountain communes) out of 3,856 in the programme as a whole have mobile internet access via mutualisation among the four mobile network operators. The latter have fulfilled their coverage commitments under the “White Zones – Rural Communities” programme within the established timeframes.

Document | Press kit of the inauguration (in French) :

Map | Location of Villeneuve-du-Latou :

• See the previous inaugurations.