In most French homes, they are resisting. “They” are the aging T-pieces, increasingly obsolete testimonies of an era soon to be over. By 2030, in the approximately 44 million French households that are equipped with them, these sockets, into which landline telephone lines and ADSL internet routers are connected via the copper network, will no longer be useful. . This is already the case in “39.3 million” of these homes, connected in recent years to optical fiber.
As part of the very high speed plan, launched in 2013 then revised in 2021, the government is committed to ensuring that optical fiber covers the entire French territory by 2025. Once this objective is achieved, the copper network will benefit from a five-year respite before its disappearance in 2030: “It makes no economic or ecological sense to maintain, in addition to fiber, a second network when it is less efficient and more consuming in energy”, up to “four times more than fiber”, explains Bénédicte Javelot, director of strategic projects and development at Orange France.
Seven lots of municipalities
France’s historic telecommunications network, owned by Orange, the copper network became widespread in the country in the mid-1970s. It represents “several tens of millions of kilometers of cables”, buried or supported by “18 million” of posts. More than half a century old, it is expensive to maintain, “around 500 million euros per year”, breathes Bénédicte Javelot. Planned for a long time, the process of “removal” of copper will be progressive, the removal of this coveted metal, a costly operation, being financed in particular by its “recovery”, assures Orange.
Every year until 2030, “lots” of municipalities will be disconnected. On January 31, 2025, the copper network will turn off in 162 towns (211,000 homes), including four in the South-West, in Charente-Maritime. Then, on January 27, 2026, it will be the turn of 835 towns in the second batch (one million housing units), including 70 in the South-West, before, on January 31, 2027, a third batch comprising 2,150 municipalities (2.5 million housing units), including 253 in the South-West. Four other lots, the composition of which has not yet been decided, will follow, each involving 8 to 10 million housing units.
When will your municipality be affected?
How were these municipalities selected? “There are several criteria,” continues Bénédicte Javelot. The first condition is the completeness of the community in fiber. To be able to close the copper, there must be a very high speed solution and the homes must be connectable. The 2nd criterion is that we must have a balance between the different infrastructure operators. Then, there is a consultation with elected officials. It’s quite a long process…”
The fiber unfolds
While “10 million copper lines are still active in France”, according to the head of Orange, the whole challenge of the current “changeover” lies in making fiber accessible everywhere in France. As of June 30, 2024, the Electronic Communications Regulatory Authority (Arcep) reported that “89%” of the national territory could be connected to fiber. 11% of housing, or “5.1 million”, therefore still remained waiting… “According to the speech of the president of Arcep, we will be there on almost the entire territory by the end of 2025”, positive Bénédicte Javelot, conceding that some municipalities are “a little behind”, mainly in rural areas.
What will happen by 2030 if these municipalities are not ready? “For those which are not completed but which have a fiber project, we will postpone the commercial copper closure by a period which remains to be negotiated with Arcep, the time for these cities to come on board”, assures the head of ‘Orange. Where no fiber equipment project is launched, “either one is created locally, or we will provide technological solutions, such as the 5G + key, the 4G key or satellite solutions”.
Problem: fiber connection projects, sometimes with trenches to be dug over tens of meters when the home is isolated, can be expensive, and therefore constitute a “brake” for individuals. “Today, operators and Arcep are calling on the State to put in place aid to economically support these households,” replies Bénédicte Javelot. One thing is certain, no operator will be able to sell their customers an offer on the copper network from January 31, 2026. For the last stragglers, the countdown has started.
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