After the experiments in the pilot cities, the timetable for closing the copper network which supports ADSL technology is accelerating. Orange communicated, at the start of the year, the final list of the 2,145 municipalities concerned by lot 3. That is to say 2.44 million premises (individuals and businesses). Compared to lots 1 and 2 which included 162 and 827 municipalities respectively, the historic operator has clearly entered a phase of industrialization.
Orange, however, lowered its ambitions taking into account the consultation phase which took place from spring 2023 – more than 300 local and national meetings were held with communities and other operators. A first list included 157 more municipalities.
Mayenne and Charente-Maritime over-represented
As Avicca, an association of communities involved in digital technology, notes on its site, certain departments are over-represented. At the top of the list, we find Mayenne (105 communes), Charente-Maritime (102), Lot (83), Haute-Garonne (80), Nord (78), Corrèze (77) or Loire (74). The first Ile-de-France departments are Yvelines and Val d’Oise, each with 43 municipalities.
Conversely, ten departments do not have, “ most often at their request », Specifies Avicca, of municipalities in this third batch. These are Allier, Aveyron, Cantal, Côtes-d’Armor, Dordogne, Gers, Lot-et-Garonne, Lozère, Tarn and Paris. The 17th district of the capital, in fact, has disappeared from the final list.
Around fifty municipalities with less than 90% fiber coverage
Among the large cities concerned by this lot 3 are:
- Rennes
- Brest
- The 3rd arrondissement of Lyon
- Dax
- La Ciotat
- Boulogne-sur-Mer
- Bourg-en-Bresse
- Cagnes sur mer
- Bron
- Schiltigheim
- Châtillon
- Fort of France
- Bernay
- Mandelieu-la-Napoule
Residents of these territories will no longer be able, from January 31, 2026, to subscribe to an ADSL offer and will have to turn to optical fiber or an alternative technology such as a 4G/5G box or satellite internet.
These municipalities were obviously not chosen at random. Optical fiber is widely deployed there. Gif-sur-Yvette thus displays a coverage rate of 100% but this is not the case for all of its sisters. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of the municipalities in lot 3 have more than 98% FttH coverage. There remain around fifty municipalities with less than 90% connection to fiber, one of which – Dramelay in Jura, 29 souls – is stagnating at 53%.
The black spot: very dense areas
According to the counts carried out by Avicca, no less than 88,000 sockets remain to be deposited in all the municipalities of lot 3 before removing the copper network. As the pace of deployments slows, the association says it is worried. “ This is not for lack of having alerted Orange and the other operators. Both the completeness and the quality of the networks still do not seem to be the priority of these operators, certain communities have decided to take action. A phenomenon which could increase if these actors do not change their approach to these blocking points. »
If the consultation was “ objectively went very well » for less dense areas – Public initiative networks (RIP), Calls for demonstration of investment intention (AMII), Calls for demonstration of local commitments (AMEL), Programming and deployment monitoring agreements (CPSD )… – this is not the case, paradoxically, in very dense areas (ZTD), “ Orange seems to favor the move by force by adding seven new municipalities and an additional district in Lyon, tackles Avicca. However, none of the lights are green in ZTD.”
Rennes, the good student
Of the seven large cities concerned, only Rennes saw a significant change in its completeness (+2%) over a rolling year. For the other six, the change is either weak (less than 1%), or zero and no municipality exceeds 98% completeness. The association deplores the recent agreement concluded between Orange and the State. In these ZTDs, the operator has committed to a deployment rate of only 96%.
Avicca also regrets that no information has been made public on the lessons to be learned from the experiments in the pilot cities of Rennes and Vanves. “ The conditions for good copper closure in ZTD therefore remain completely unknown. » And to conclude: “ As it stands, persisting in initiating the closure of copper in ZTD amounts to adventurism.”
After criticizing the over-representation of Orange in the number of lines to operate in this vast decommissioning project of the copper network, the association welcomes the rebalancing effort for the benefit of other infrastructure operators such as Axione or Altitude Infra. “ Avicca takes note of this effort, but now expects, with regard to lot 4, real respect for national balances. »