This Wednesday, January 31, 2024, Orange will begin to gradually close the copper network, the fixed telephone lines which are used for ADSL connections. Hundreds of municipalities are affected by this big change.
If you are still using a “T” telephone socket or ADSL Internet access, your equipment will be gradually cut off in the years, if not in the months to come. Indeed, the copper network, on which these services are based, will gradually disappear in favor of optical fiber. Originally designed to transport voice in the form of an analog signal, this set of cables was diverted from this unique original purpose by ADSL, a particularly clever technology allowing digital information to be transported over simple telephone lines. But after some fifty years of good and loyal service, this venerable network will say goodbye. Orange, which owns and manages it as the historic operator after France Telecom and the PTT, has in fact announced a closure plan spanning seven years, from 2024 to 2030.
Don’t panic, the closure of the switched telephone network (PSTN) will take place gradually – the Government has also set up a special website, called Very high speed for all, to support users in this transition. This begins on January 31, 2024, where residents of a first batch of 211,000 premises and homes spread across 162 French municipalities will no longer be able to subscribe to a new ADSL connection or a fixed telephone subscription on the Orange copper network. The next step is set in one year, at the end of January 2025, when all services that operate on copper will be stopped. We find in this lot municipalities of all sizes, going from Rennes and its 157,667 inhabitants, to Saint-Pierre-à-Arnes and its 42 inhabitants.
This concerns municipalities in departments 02 (Annois, Cugny, Pierrepont…), 08 (Ballay, Illy, Toges…), 17 (Chermignac, Écurat, Pessines, Saint-Sulpice-de-Royan), 18 (Nançay , Saint-Laurent…), 19 (Albignac, Troche…), 22 (Glomel), 29 (Bohars), 31 (Albiac, La Salvetat-Lauragais, Venerque), 35 (Rennes), 42 (Arçon, etc.), 53 (Livré-la-Touche), 56 (Férel, Îles-aux-Moines…), 59 (Bévilliers, Viesly…), 62 (Angres), 77 (La Rochette, etc.) , 78 (Guyancourt, Magny-les-Hameaux, Le Mesnil-Saint-Denis), 84 (Grillon, Roaix, Visan…), 85 (Aizenay, Le Poiré-sur-Vie) and 92 (Vanves). Overseas municipalities are also included in the lot (Petit-Bourg, Schœlcher, Remire-Montjoly, Saint-Leu). You will find the complete list of municipalities concerned at this address.
The approach of Orange and the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications, Posts and Press Distribution (Arcep) is in fact to close copper access in increasingly large batches. In January 2025, 954,000 premises in 829 municipalities will see their copper lines cut. In January 2026, this figure will increase to 2.5 million premises in 2,145 municipalities. At the start of 2030, the 42 million lines still active should finally bow out. At the same time, fiber, 5G and satellite connection will continue to be deployed, Arcep is keeping a close eye. But the goal is not to close the network at all costs.
To prevent the situation from turning into a disaster, the authority will not hesitate if the operators do not meet the deadlines for the deployment of fiber, “to request the postponement of the closure in certain municipalities”. As Laure de La Raudière, president of Arcep, points out, “the quality of service difficulties still encountered today must be resolved.” Operators are therefore called upon to speed up installations while taking care of their quality – between sabotage of installations by “technicians”, connection appointments not honored, technical defects and wild disconnections of lines, certain aggrieved consumers are sometimes forced to pay for degraded service! Because, for the moment, the situation is far from idyllic…