Report: Big tech players account for 53% of internet traffic in France

Arcep, the French regulator, has presented the 2024 edition of its report on the state of the internet in France. This is Volume 3 of the annual report that the Office submits to the country’s parliament every year.

The report provides an account of the actions that Arcep has taken to secure the smooth functioning of the Internet and ensure that it continues to develop as a common good. It also provides new data through updates to its data network connection barometers and the transition to IPv6.

Inbound traffic continued to grow in 2023

At the end of 2023, incoming traffic to IXPs in France is estimated at 46.5 Tbit/s, up 7.6% compared to 2022 (compared to +21% between the end of 2021 and the end of 2022). Around 53% of this traffic comes from the five big tech companies: Netflix, Akamai, Facebook, Google and Amazon. The expansion of cache servers in the content delivery networks (CDNs) of telecom operators is ongoing, creating an opportunity to optimize traffic transmitted via interconnections: 20% of incoming traffic to end users is routed via CDNs.

In 2023 the number of daily SVoD users fell from 9.4 million in 2022 to 8.9 million. SVOD the penetration rate remained stable at around 56 percent. SVOD Netflix still dominates consumption.

IPv6 transition underway

Arcep notes that the transition to IPv6 has become necessary to prevent the Internet from splitting into two: IPv4 on one side and IPv6 on the other. The IPv6 Transition Barometer is updated with data collected by Arcep and Afnic until the end of 2023. The transition of ISPs to IPv6 is proceeding at a rapid pace: in mid-2023, 81% of fixed fixed access customers (FttH, cable, ADSL) and 66% of mobile customers were enabled, although with significant differences between providers. Although website and email hosting companies still lag behind, they have made clear progress, with IPv6-enabled domain names increasing by six points and IPv6-enabled email addresses doubling over the past year, rising from 8% to 19% between mid-2022 and mid-2023.

Among the 100 countries with the largest number of internet users, France ranks third in terms of IPv6 adoption, with a combined consumer and business adoption rate estimated at 64.6% in April 2024, behind India (71.2%) and Malaysia (65.5%).

Net neutrality

In April 2023, the European Commission published its latest report assessing the implementation of the open Internet and highlighting the positive contribution of this regulation in fostering an open and innovative environment and protecting users’ rights. In her editorial to this annual report, President Arcep Laura de La Raudière spoke of its commitment to net neutrality, which Arcep continues to defend. In 2023, the Wehe traffic prioritization app — which Arcep makes publicly available as part of its data-driven regulatory tools — enabled users to conduct more than 13,000 tests in France, for a total of 680,000 since its launch. Reports received on the J’alerte l’Arcep platform enabled the detection of failures between the ISP and the content provider regarding users’ access to emails.

Cloud computing, data, gatekeeper platforms

The Cyberspace Protection and Regulation Act, which will enter into force in May 2024, imposes new regulatory obligations on Arcep, firstly in the cloud computing market, in preparation for European data law, and secondly, in relation to data intermediaries, in accordance with the Data Management Act.

In addition, Arcep is involved in the implementation of the Digital Markets Act within BEREC and is co-chair of the ad hoc working group dedicated to this task. Arcep also represents BEREC in the high-level working group established by the Regulation – where Arcep co-led BEREC’s work on the interoperability obligations for instant messaging services and on the opinion BEREC issued on the draft reference offer for WhatsApp interoperability.

Digital Sustainability

Since May 17, digital sector players have also had access to a general policy framework for the eco-design of digital services to reduce the environmental footprint of their websites, software, video plans, AI chatbots, etc. Published by Arcep and Arcom in collaboration with ADEME, the document contains 78 factsheets on the development of more environmentally friendly services. This voluntary framework, established in collaboration with DINUM, CNIL and Inria, allows stakeholders to provide an ongoing account of their efforts in the form of an eco-design declaration of conformity.

Measuring the quality of services

The “Access ID card” API is designed to be installed on ISP home routers to provide more reliable speed test comparisons. This API provides speed test tools with information about the internet connection running the test (technology used, primary speed, concurrent traffic, etc.), allowing them to take these factors into account. All new ISP routers now come with this API. In January 2024, Nperf became the first speed test to use API data in its publications.