This is a boon for Orange subscribers. The operator announced to Le Parisien that it was switching all its mobile customers – including those of Sosh – free of charge to the 5G network from this Monday until September 8, the date of the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games.
Nearly half of the 22 million Orange users, partner of the Olympic Games, could be affected by this offer, provided they have a compatible phone, reports Le Parisien. “This offer is a way to mark the occasion and give our customers a taste of the comfort of using 5G,” declared Jean-François Fallacher, general manager of Orange France. The objective: to convince users to stay loyal to a more expensive 5G plan after this free trial period. But not only.
Indeed, behind the communication operation lies the fear of a major failure during the Olympic Games. With more than 15 million visitors expected in Paris this summer, the 4G network could be saturated by simultaneous connections, preventing those who wish to share live, on networks or by SMS, images of the opening ceremony, which should bring together 326,000 spectators, and sporting events.
The advantages of 5G
The days of landlines are long gone. In just a few years, mobile technology has developed and continues its momentum with 5G, since 2020. The new arrival promises a network revolution, particularly in terms of throughput and speed. Concretely, it wants to make it possible to avoid the cuts that we may experience in areas with little coverage or transport, for example. Like the Olympic Games, technology should also prevent network saturation in the event of a high concentration of population in the same sector. It also promises speeds up to 10 times higher than those of 4G, allowing ultra-high speed connections: videos, games, augmented reality and virtual reality… Concretely, a film download which normally takes a few minutes is done in seconds.
Thanks to better bandwidth, 5G also reduces latency (response time) and thus opens up prospects for connected objects and in particular for professional uses: autonomous cars, remote control, industrial automation, etc.
