Copper Network

The rollout of fiber optics throughout France, prioritized by the government through the France Very Hight Speed plan (opens in a new window), and the acceleration in French people’s adoption of fiber since the health crisis, have made the closure of Orange’s historic network possible. The copper shutdown is a project operated by the copper local loop operator (Orange). It concerns all commercial operators (including Orange) and should be completed by 2030.

The closure plan has been drawn up by Orange in compliance with the regulatory framework established by Arcep at the end of 2020, which sets out the notice periods and implementation conditions to be met for the two main stages of closure:

• Commercial closure, which consists of stopping the marketing of new copper-based offers in a given zone.
• Technical closure, which follows commercial closure, consists of stopping all copper-based services in a given area. This presupposes that operators have first encouraged their customers to migrate to FttH or other alternative technologies.

All types of customers are affected by the closure of the copper network (general public, businesses, public administrations).
All the access offers described below are affected by this closure.

The copper network closure plan covers the whole of France, including overseas territories. It will be implemented at commune level, in annual batches of communes identified each year by Orange and shared with stakeholders. A gradual increase in the number of premises concerned is planned, leading to the technical closure of the entire network by the end of 2030.

Unbundling

The Decree of 12 September 2000 that opened the telecommunications sector to competition required Orange to implement unbundling from its local loop and to allow other Operators to sub-let the local loop in part or in full. This means that Operators can access the telephone sockets of end customers and offer their own services.

The number of unbundled Subscriber Connection Nodes (SCNs) continues to increase in response to the rising demand from Operators. Today, more than 91% of lines can be unbundled, and there are around 12 million internet connections provided through unbundled access.

Orange offers two types of unbundling:

Full unbundling

This gives Operators access to the entire frequency band of the twisted pair, and therefore to both voice and xDSL flows. In this case, IP telephony, internet and television access, and Video on Demand (VOD) services, are managed exclusively by the Operator who has subscribed to unbundling. This Operator is the only point of contact with the end customer.

Partial unbundling

This gives Operators access to the high frequency band of the twisted pair, and therefore only to xDSL flows. This allows data transmission and related services such as the internet, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), television, and Video On Demand (VOD). Orange retains the low frequency of the twisted pair used for analogue voice transmission. The subscriber retains their telephone subscription with Orange, and internet and data services are provided and billed by the Operator who has entered into partial unbundling.

xDSL or Bitstream Access

Orange Wholesale France is also offering a DSL Access service built on the network managing the Orange xDSL flows and that allows Operators, particularly in areas with no unbundling, to offer VoIP, internet and television services to their end customers.

There are several types of xDSL technology, such as Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) and Very-high-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL), which enable a superfast broadband connection up to 50 Mbit/s.

For professional use, a permanent connection to an efficient, reliable network enabling customers to grow their businesses in optimal, sustainable conditions, is provided by Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line (SDSL) technology, which delivers a broadband connection up to 20 Mbit/s.

In 2014, 99.5% of copper lines were eligible for broadband service.

The extensive coverage and quality of the copper network deployed by Orange allows its customers to establish high-quality telephone and xDSL access throughout France.

Subscription Wholesale

Operators can also offer telephone subscription to their end customers under the same conditions as Orange customers using the Orange Wholesale France Subscription Wholesale (SW) service. Their customers’ traffic is therefore routed to their network.

Orange Wholesale France is also offering a Subscription and Traffic Wholesale (STW) service that lets operators offer a telephone service to their end customers, even if they don’t have a telephone network.

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