5G: Arcep notes a rise in power in its latest observatory


Arcep’s latest publications on 5G provide an update on progress in activating dedicated antennas. A little game in which Free Mobile is in the lead, except with regard to the 3.5 GHz sites – the most efficient – ​​where SFR is the leader.

Arcep, which oversees the pace of deployment of 5G in France, recently updated its observatory. Although the rate of publication of the latter is far from reaching the expected monthly frequency, the arrival of new data provides a broader view of the efforts made by operators to expand their coverage and improve their infrastructures. . Our colleagues from Next Inpact have produced a useful summary of these statements, and it is clear that the main lines are not moving on the 5G front.

In other words, Free Mobile continues to head and shoulders dominate its competitors in number of active antennas (13,470, against 6,730 for Bouygues Telecom, 4,948 for SFR and 3,035 for Orange), but is last in number of 3.5 GHz sites (2384, compared to 2689 for Bouygues Telecom, 2698 for Orange and 2929 for SFR). These 3.5 GHz antennas are, as a reminder, those that allow 5G speeds to really cross a course.

In the second quarter of 2021, we note that SFR is the operator which has deployed the most 3.5 GHz antennas. On the 2.1 GHz band, Bouygues Telecom is the fastest in terms of deployment. Finally, last particularity, Free Mobile is the most dynamic operator on the 700 MHz band, a less efficient frequency band but which carries further, which allows it to claim strong coverage of the population in 5G.

As we know, these technical data are essential when it is necessary to study the performance of mobile networks, knowing that the operators communicate essentially on the best speeds available. However, the highest speeds can only be achieved with compatible smartphones, on the 3.5 GHz band or in the case of stream aggregation via several 4G frequency bands.

On the speed side, we also learn thanks to the latest version of the Arcep observatory that Free Mobile has 81% of sites theoretically capable of delivering speeds greater than 240 Mb / s, a share that drops to 73% at Orange, 63% at SFR and 60% at Bouygues Telecom. All must reach at least 75% by the end of 2022. However, in practice, Free Mobile sometimes has trouble offering good speeds in 5G. The operator was also dead last in the Arcep ranking on quality of service published at the end of last year.



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