From June 29, Orange will deploy a huge system to connect millions of spectators and the media during the Tour de France 2024 and the Tour de France Femmes with Zwift. No less than 450 technicians will be mobilized to multiply the connection capacity by 5 every day.
For the 25th consecutive year, Orange is a partner and the official telecom operator of the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes with Zwift.
Each year, the historic operator sets up a major system to cover the municipalities crossed by runners in 4G and 5G, in order to allow millions of spectators and hundreds of media outlets to access the internet quickly throughout the year. along the Tour.
A connection capacity multiplied by 5
This year, the Tour de France will begin on Saturday June 29 in Florence, Italy and will arrive for the first time in Nice on July 21; the historic arrival in Paris will not take place this year due to the Olympics. And from this Saturday, Orange will activate its technical system to meet the growing connectivity needs of organizers, the media and the public.
To do this, Orange must notably interconnect 12 double technical zones and integrate into the TV system on the arrival sites. The system will allow the connection capacity to be multiplied by 5 every day thanks to 10 GB links which will be deployed at all stages. The operator adds that these boosted speeds as well as the mobile infrastructures deployed “allow us to share the best of the third world sporting event”. In addition, 9 4G/5G relays will be left in service after the Tour.
For the Tour de France Femmes with Zwift, Orange will take on a new logistical and technical challenge with the start in Rotterdam on August 12 and the finish in Alpe d’Huez on August 18.
450 technicians and 29 mobile relays
In total, 450 technicians and online supervisors will be mobilized as well as 50 regional experts as reinforcements on each stage and 36 technicians as close as possible to the Tour. On the infrastructure side, the historic operator will deploy 29 temporary mobile relays to strengthen mobile network coverage, including 8 indoors.
Orange takes the opportunity to indicate that the Tour will pass through 99 municipalities covered in 5G including 16 stage towns, such as Pau, Nîmes, Villenauve-sur-Lot, Orléans, Dijon and Nice. For the Women’s Tour, 19 towns covered in 5G will be crossed including Amnéville, Remiremont, Le Grand-Bornand and Alpe d’Huez.
