It is now official: Orange plans to dismantle its entire copper ADSL network by 2030. At a time when optical fiber is becoming more and more democratized in French homes, the operator admits that it It is no longer necessary to cover the costs for both devices. There remains the question of funding.
It is a titanic project, and yet necessary. Orange is preparing to start dismantling the copper network, which took France Telecom several decades to install. Several executives had announced 2030 as the deadline. This Monday, February 7, Orange finally confirmed to give 8 years to disconnect millions of kilometers of cables who travel through France.
If some are still attached to the good old ADSL, there are plenty of reasons to make the transition to fiber optics. The first being that of cost: at a rate of 500 million euros per year, “paying for two networks is economic heresy”believes Michel Combot, director general of the French Federation of Telecoms. “In addition to the cost, interconnecting two different technologies is extremely complex”also explains an internal source at Orange.
On the same subject: Copper network, ADSL — Orange explains how everything will be dismantled by 2030
Orange gives itself until 2030 to dismantle its copper network
At a time when the government is pulling out all the stops to speed up the deployment of optical fiber in rural areas, ADSL is beginning to bear the brunt of his age. The increase in Internet traffic in France has brought to light the technical limitations of the technology. Thus, the dismantling will be done in stages, region by region. Orange ensures that subscribers will be notified in advance the end of the copper network in their municipality.
While this announcement signifies the revival of competition between telecoms for the deployment of fiber to users, Orange also claims that‘no subscriber will be disconnected. Indeed, the latter has committed to universal service until 2023. However, this only concerns the copper network. It is therefore impossible to know what will happen once it is extinguished.
Finally, the issue of funding remains unresolved. If the competition does not hesitate to push Orange to end the copper network, everyone agrees that it is up to the firm to pay the costs. “The network belongs entirely to Orange and it is not the other operators who decided to close it”, explains an anonymous executive. “So there’s no reason for them to pay for it.”
Source: The world
