At 1er January, France had 38,132 5G mobile network sites, including 164 sites in Overseas France. That is an increase of 1.5% in one month, according to the latest count from the observatory of the National Frequency Agency (ANFR).
Of this total, 29,315 5G sites are declared technically operational by mobile phone operators. Almost all the antennas are located on sites (buildings, pylons, masts) already used by 2G, 3G or 4G technologies. Only four sites only host 5G.
Which operators come out ahead in terms of coverage? With 16,524 sites, Free Mobile is well ahead, far ahead of Bouygues Telecom (9,514), SFR (8,388) and Orange (5,601). This first place, Free Mobile owes it to its massive deployment of 5G sites (16,518) in 700 MHz. The subsidiary of the Iliad group activated another 179 new sites on this frequency band in December.
Shunned by competing operators, this low frequency carries the signal far, but for a limited flow. Its large range therefore ensures good coverage – 2 km in urban areas and 8 km in rural areas according to the Ariase site – and good penetration inside buildings to the detriment of speed and latency.
3.5 GHz: SFR, Orange and Bouygues Telecom in a pocket handkerchief
The other three operators have chosen to use the 3.5 GHz frequency, which is a compromise between technical performance and signal range. On this core 5G band, SFR is accelerating its coverage with 797 new 5G sites last month, for a total of 5,622 locations (+ 14.2%).
The subsidiary of the Altice group exceeds Orange and its 5,473 3.5 GHz sites, including 525 won in December (+ 9.6%). With 448 new 3.5 GHz sites, Bouygues Telecom is in a pocket handkerchief with its competitors, with a total of 5,248 locations (+ 8.5%). On this frequency, Free Mobile is slowing down with 157 new sites activated out of a base of 4,337 sites (+3.6%).
Finally, in the 2100 MHz intermediate frequency band, the progression is more contrasted. In December, Free Mobile had still not activated a dedicated site and Orange lost six out of a meager total of 311 sites. In this segment, Bouygues Telecom takes its revenge by coming in well ahead, with 282 new operational sites out of a total of 8,945 locations (+ 3.15%), against 176 new sites out of 5,254 for SFR (+ 3.35% ).
To find out if a 5G pylon or mast is located near you, you can consult Cartoradio.fr, the mapping platform which lists all the radio sites authorized on French territory.