Will ADSL subscribers be deprived of telephone and Internet connections overnight?
The answer is clear: no.
Not yet, in any case.
Eventually, the shutdown of the service which is based on the old copper network of the former France Telecom is indeed scheduled, once the switch to fiber is completed.
So it's all a question of timing.
Orange should submit its plan for stopping copper (or decommissioning, to use the expression) to the telecoms authority in early December.
Arcep will submit it for consultation.
There are many stakeholders.
The other operators use the Orange copper network to market their own ADSL offers, local authorities are concerned about sustainability and quality of service ....
Read also Fixed telephony: Orange plans the end of the copper network in 2030
Little by little, operators will therefore stop marketing copper offers.
A consumer who has just moved to an area covered by fiber would therefore have no choice but to subscribe to fiber, exit ADSL.
Likewise, a consumer wishing to change operator must necessarily opt for fiber.
Along with the cessation of marketing, the technical closure of the copper network is looming.
The operators, starting with Orange, have no desire to finance two fixed networks ad vitam aeternam.
This is indeed an aberration on the economic side, but also on the environmental side, since fiber consumes about three times less energy than copper for flow rates three to four times higher (on average).
More than 3 million copper lines shut down
In fact, the cessation of copper has already started.
Tests are carried out on all the territory.
The small town of Lévy Saint Nom in the Paris region was the first to switch entirely to fiber.
Gradually, the commercial closure of copper is gaining ground.
Since October, more than 3 million premises (businesses and homes) can no longer claim a copper connection.
Quickly "
11 to 12 million locals will be concerned
", explained Nicolas Guérin, general secretary of Orange, during the Trip Avicca conference on Friday morning.
Read alsoOrange is experimenting with shutting down the copper network in a first town
No longer repairing copper?
Basically, the four national operators agree: we must stop copper. The question of modalities arises. “
There could be an end of support stage. We stop repairing copper in the event of a breakdown,
”suggested Laurent Lagagnier, Director of Regulations and relations with communities at Iliad, the parent company of Free. Orange, which spends "
tens of millions of euros per year
" to rest copper (especially when cables are stolen) could be tempted. Bouygues Telecom is up to the task, advocating through the voice of its secretary general Liza Bellulo
"maintaining the quality of copper
".
For operators, the question of stopping copper poses more questions on the commercial than technical level: how to convince recalcitrant customers?
Those who do not respond to requests, do not want to leave copper for fiber, even if the subscriptions are at the same price?
Those who just don't see the point?
The question is asked.
The ball is in the regulator's court.