IYou have to anticipate. This is the key word if you don't want to find yourself, on the big day, without television or landline telephone. For those who have not yet switched to optical fiber, the countdown is on. “After fifty years of service, the copper network is at the end of its life. It requires more frequent repairs and no longer provides sufficient connection quality to support everyday use. The historic operator Orange, owner of the copper network infrastructure, therefore announced at the end of 2019 its desire to technically close it between 2023 and 2030. This shutdown implies the compulsory migration to optical fiber according to an already established schedule,” indicates Guillaume Faure, South West Altice France SFR regional delegate.
In Charente-Maritime, “the four municipalities of Chermignac, Écurat, Pessines and Saint-Sulpice-de-Royan will experience this change in technology from January 31, 2025”. In these sectors, the days of the ADSL box are numbered. Then 19 municipalities will be added to this first list from January 31, 2026 (1) followed by 98 on January 31, 2027 and so on.
The mayor of Saint-Sulpice-de-Royan Christian Pitard has already taken the lead by widely informing his population. The elected official still hopes that the stop will not be too brutal. “I was told that everything was not going to be cut overnight. It will be progressive. We have elderly people who are a little lost,” he says. However, his city is a good student. “Out of around 2,000 homes, only 16 or 17 are not connected to fiber. »
Workshop project
“We plan to offer workshops to our customers to explain the change in technology and guide them in using the new box. There are seven of us here and we don’t just see ourselves as sellers,” underlines the manager of the SFR store in Royan Odile Saintagne. And Guillaume Faure adds that “Very High Speed services are now available in 434 municipalities with 476,000 sockets already eligible”. The regional delegate is betting big on the department. “Our subsidiary XpFibre has completed deploying fiber in the La Rochelle area and we are continuing our investments in the deployment of our 5G network, currently available in 170 municipalities. »
SFR wishes to strengthen its network and coverage in tourist and coastal areas. “We went from 200 to 280 relay antennas from 2021 to 2024,” informs the operator’s representative. The environmental aspect is not excluded either. “We are committed to reducing our direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 but also to restoring ecosystems through reforestation actions. »
(1) The municipalities of lot 2 are Aujac, Aumagne, Bagnizeau, La Brousse, Bussac-sur-Charente, Cherbonnières, Contré, Dœuil-sur-le-Mignon, L'Éguille, Le Gicq, Migron, Mons, Saint-Augustin , Saint-Martin-de-Juillers, Saint-Pierre-de-Juillers, Thénac, Les Touches-de-Périgny, Villars-les-Bois, La Villedieu.
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