The copper network, on which the historic telephone and ADSL are based, is gradually being retired. After experiments, the closure plan really got underway. Objective: to end it by 2030.
From now on, it is no longer possible to take out Internet subscriptions that use the copper network. At least this is true in certain French municipalities as of January 31, 2024. This date marks the start of a large-scale transition, which consists of abandoning the old telephone network in favor of optical fiber.
A vast movement recalled by Laure de La Raudière, the president of the Electronic Communications Regulatory Authority (the telecoms policeman) -, during her wishes on January 23. A ” change of times “, she stressed, with optical fiber becoming the ” new infrastructure and new reference Internet access “.
The switched telephone network (PSTN), also called the copper network, dates from the 1960s. It is also on which the “historic landline telephone” is based, which also bows out in favor of the IP network.
The changeover which begins today specifically covers 210,000 premises distributed in 162 municipalities throughout France. For this stage, the commercial closure takes place. A year later will follow the technical closure for these same premises. Subsequently, other municipalities will also take the same path.
To find out if the closure of the copper network concerns your municipality, the government provides a website on which it is possible to search by postal code. In some cases, the date is already entered. In others, not yet. The objective is to complete this vast project by 2030.
Instead of ADSL, focus on fiber (and 5G and satellite Internet)
For those concerned, the end of the Internet via copper network therefore means the end of offers established on ADSL. Instead, the subscriptions offered to them are based on optical fiber, but also 5G or even satellite Internet. Various options are possible to compensate for the end of the ADSL copper network.
In addition to ADSL, several other communication technologies have benefited from the copper network. VDSL and SDSL, but also landline telephone, fax, minitel, telematics and television, recalls Orange. An old network, which has several decades of activity at its service, but which no longer adheres to uses and technical developments.
The gradual withdrawal of the old network is the consequence of a change of era. At the start of 2022, the regulator observed that optical fiber doubled ADSL for the first time in the number of Internet accesses in France. And according to figures from September 2023, almost two thirds (64%) of broadband and very high speed Internet subscriptions are fiber.
The rise of optical fiber offers an opportunity to free ourselves from a network described as “ aging » by public authorities. “ It requires more frequent repairs, and no longer provides sufficient Internet connection quality to support everyday use. », underlines Bercy.
As a historic operator, Orange has been working on the end of ADSL for years. At the end of 2023, the company presented the broad outlines of its plan to gradually abandon the copper network. As it owns this infrastructure, it is on it that obligations such as the universal service of electronic communications rest.
Before launching, Orange carried out a first closure experiment in March 2021, with the commune of Lévis-Saint-Nom – already fully fiber-enabled since 2016. Then a second test was launched in six other communes, with a process which is completed in March 2023.
In mid-2022, Orange sent the telecommunications policeman a plan to close the copper network with a forecast timetable. Every year until 2030, more and more French municipalities will have to be “disconnected” from the copper network. In total, the maneuver will affect 42 million premises.
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