Although the SNCF offers a wifi service on board its Inoui TGVs, accompanied by a portal giving access to services and content (press, films, games, podcasts, etc.), the quality of this service is often criticised for insufficient bandwidth, blackouts, white zones... " Wifi doesn't work!"This is a phrase that is frequently heard on board our trains. Even though the situation has improved considerably since the system was deployed ten years ago, with the carrier having invested tens of millions of euros in this technological area.
Wifi on board, a technological feat
The rail company has therefore decided to remedy these malfunctions. The TGV trains are currently equipped with antennae on the roofs and fibre optics that pick up the 4G/5G networks of the telecoms operators from terminals located close to the different railway lines and spaced about 3km apart. Visit complexity for the modems and Sim cards on the train lies in the fact that the train travels at 100 metres per second, changing towers every 30 seconds. In addition to speed, SNCF is constrained by the operators' coverage of the country and the number of frequencies they make available. The poor quality of the bandwidth is also correlated with the number of users on board, as a train can carry up to a thousand passengers, of whom around 400 will be connected.
Using satellites to boost Internet access
To avoid this, the SNCF told us ". embark on an innovative approach using low-orbit satellite solutions to strengthen the connectivity and resilience of its digital infrastructures, combining terrestrial fibre-optic networks ". Thanks to the use of satellites, the improvement in the quality of Internet access will apply not only to TGVs, but also to Intercity and TER trains. This would have the advantage of eliminating the white zones that exist in some areas, and providing users with stable, fast Wi-Fi access. SNCF believes that this combination satellite + 4G/5G network on land will be able to respond to customer expectations and new uses, such as videoconferencing for business travellers or streaming films and series for passengers wishing to relax during their journey.
Satellite technology will also benefit the SNCF group
SNCF points out that this recourse to a satellite operator will also make it possible to ". significant savings by avoiding heavy investment in civil engineering where fibre is not available ". The system will also help the SNCF's operational teams working on its entire network, particularly on isolated sites and mobile worksites". thanks to fully redundant networks ". A call for tenders will be " coming soon "The company explains that it has launched a series of full-scale tests. The competition is expected to be between French Eutelsat-OneWeb and American Starlink from Space X, owned by the ebullient Elon Musk. Air France, for its part, has already opted for Starlink for its new offer of free wifi on board its aircraft, a decision that has already raised a great deal of criticism in terms of security and technological sovereignty.
