French regulator Arcep has published a report on mobile coverage and quality of service across the French overseas territories, coinciding with the announcement that its enhanced network mapping tool (https://monreseaumobile.fr) has been expanded to include these markets (Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte and Reunion). The online interactive tool was first introduced for mainland France to give consumers more detailed information on the availability of voice and SMS services. Since its launch in September 2017, it was updated to show availability of LTE mobile data services, as well as 3G services.
The regulator said that the report is based on over 350,000 mobile service quality measurements recorded between April to June. This is part of its monitoring campaign aiming to ensure that operators comply with the obligations set in their LTE licences, including the coverage targets due to be met by November (their first rollout deadline).
For Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte and Reunion, the report found that at least two competing network operators have deployed LTE services extensively, with population coverage ranging from 96 and over 99 percent. In Guiana, while Orange and SFR have reached a substantial portion of the population (84% and 85%, respectively), coverage of the territory remains substantially lower than in the other markets, standing at around 3 percent.
