A new strategic contract for the Digital Infrastructures sector for the period 2023-2025 was signed on March 16 in Bercy to continue the work started by the previous plan for 2019-2022. The sector was structured in 2018 in the form of the Strategic Sector Committee (CSF) under the auspices of the National Council of Industry (CNI).
The new plan, signed by the government, CSF President Nicolas Guerin (general secretary of the Orange Group) and CFDT and Force Ouvrière, revolves around six strategic axes: development of industrial 5G and future networks, connected territories, job and skills management, export growth drivers, innovative ecosystem and ecological transition.
Multiplying 5G Industrial Trials for SMBs
With regard to industrial 5G and networks of the future, CSF has established a network of platforms to experiment with 5G/6G use cases. The goal is to support 100 start-ups and SMEs by 2025. Responsibility for this new working group will be led by Philip Herbert, who led the government’s industrial 5G mission. It will cooperate with the automotive industry, health and safety, among others. At the same time, the “fab lab campuses” announced in October for conducting experiments with private networks and industrial machines are beginning to see the light. The first two winners are announced, led by Excelcar in Rennes and Cetim in Cluses (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes).
“The next contract will have to be the massive deployment of 5G across the industry,” said Industry Delegate Minister Roland Lescure.
The mission of digitizing the territories has been entrusted to Valerie Nouvel, vice-president of the Manche department, and Carlos Moreno, professor at the Paris-Sorbonne University, who will have to determine a roadmap common to the state, local authorities and industry to launch projects in at least half of the 1250 state institutions of intermunicipal cooperation (MMC) by 2025.
Greening the cable industry
Ecosystem-related work aims in particular to create consortiums to double the number of companies receiving funding from Europe and to contribute to the goals of the government’s strategy to accelerate the development of 5G and the telecommunications networks of the future as part of the France 2030 agenda.
In terms of green transition, CSF will launch a telecommunications equipment ecodesign study and an annual contest to promote “network green solutions.” A support system will be implemented with the State for VSE and SMEs in the electrical and communications cable industry to help them reduce their carbon footprint.
Develop export
To meet the demand for job growth in the sector (+5% per annum) and retrain 50% of the workforce mobilized today to deploy fiber, CSF will conduct a communications campaign and organize the transition to deploy IoT networks and electric vehicle charging stations.
Finally, regarding the promotion of the French offer internationally, in particular in the priority markets of Europe and West Africa, CSF will conduct a study and action plan. The goal is to increase the presence of companies abroad by 50% by 2025 and double the number of companies involved in exports.
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