The share of French territory not benefiting from very high-speed 4G mobile coverage has been divided by more than five since 2018, a progress particularly beneficial to rural areas, Arcep, the telecoms regulator, announced on Thursday.
This share thus increased from 11% to 1.9% in five years, under the effect of the
“
New Mobile Deal
”
signed in January 2018 between the government, Arcep and operators in order to
“generalize quality mobile coverage for all French people
,” the regulator said in a press release.
The proportion of the territory covered by 4G by the four major mobile operators (Orange, SFR, Bouygues and Free) at the same time increased from 45% to 88% over the same period.
Elsewhere, they have sometimes shared mobile infrastructures, in order to improve 4G coverage without necessarily having all deployed antennas.
“In a few years, 4G mobile coverage has been rebalanced
,” comments Arcep in its press release.
The Authority also notes an improvement in the quality of internet and mobile networks in the territory, while certain obligations imposed on operators must come into force by 2031.
In her progress update, she welcomed an increase in mobile coverage in rural areas, which she nevertheless describes as
“perfectable”
.
This improvement results from the
“targeted coverage system”
, which required operators to make special efforts in certain areas requiring a
“need for digital development”
.
Between 2018 and 2023,
“rural areas have largely benefited from operator deployments”
, explains Arcep.
Two thirds (67%) of the sites opened during the period are located in rural areas.