In a press release, Orange announced that its XGS-PON fiber offer is being deployed and that 30% of its eligible customers will benefit from it from the end of 2024. According to the operator, the offer will be available to all of its subscribers by the end of 2026. At least, all those who have subscribed to a Livebox 7 offer.
Orange is on the verge of catching up very seriously. After the deployment of XGS-PON fiber by SFR to millions of its subscribers, and in Île-de-France and several other metropolises by Bouygues Telecom, it is finally the turn of the historic operator to make its big announcement . As a reminder, XGS-PON fiber is a small revolution in the industry, since it makes it possible to obtain a theoretical throughput of 10 Gb/s in upload and download. It thus differs from Free’s 10G-EPON fiber, which only offers 10 Gb/s for download.
XGS-PON fiber is in theory already available from Orange since the launch of Livebox 7 last October. But the technology still needs to be deployed in France. This is what the operator committed to in a recent press release. Since the announcement of its box, Orange has already connected more than a million homes to XGS-PON. By the end of next year, the operator says 30% of its eligible customers will be able to take advantage of the technology.
Orange promises powerful fiber for those willing to pay the price
And that’s not all. Orange also promises that 100% of its eligible customers will be entitled to the impressive speeds of this new fiber by 2026. Performance which is primarily aimed at the largest consumers of bandwidth, such as “teleworkers who exchange large files or videos, and gamers downloading digital games”, explains Thomas Gosselin, Director of Innovations For Home at Orange.
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Of course, this is not a real gift that Orange is giving its customers. Indeed, by affirming that 100% of its customers will be entitled to XGS-PON fiber, the operator intends those who are ready to pay for its Livebox 7 and its Max Fiber package at €57.99 per month. A premium clientele which, as Orange pointed out, “needs” such a flow rate to continue to quietly carry out its activities.
Source: Orange