Nearly 90% of homes are now eligible for 5G and fiber in Hérault
|The SFR team on rue Général-de-Gaulle, in Sète, with regional delegate Isabelle Simon and shop owner Francis Deroo. Midi Libre – Patrice Espinasse
SFR has invested 300 million euros to cover 90% of Hérault in 5G and make nearly 90% of the department's homes eligible for fiber.
From dunce to good student. Having lagged behind for a long time in fiber and 5G, the Hérault department now has a coverage rate higher than the national average by around 10%.
During a press briefing in Sète on Tuesday, October 15, SFR took stock of the deployment. The operator has invested 300 million euros: one third in mobile networks and two thirds in fixed and fiber networks.“We have almost completed the 4G network. There are only marginal deployments left. And 90% of the Hérault population is already covered by 5G, helping to relieve a 4G network that is often saturated in tourist areas”, explains Isabelle Simon, SFR regional delegate.
The operator is also on the front line for fiber. It is responsible for its installation by the Departmental Council, with Orange in the Montpellier metropolitan area.
Suppression of ADSL: first Argelliers, Pouzols, Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert and Saint-Jean-de-Fos
To date, 795,000 homes out of 896,000 are now eligible for a fiber offer (90%). The proportion is even higher in the city of Sète (37,000 homes out of 39,600, or 94%), its urban area (95,000 homes out of 101,600, or 94%) and in the department outside the metropolitan area of Montpellier (98%).“Here again, this is 10 points better than the national average”, Isabelle Simon is pleased to say, acknowledging that “the connection is complicated in about one case out of ten”.
A step forward that will not be a luxury as a deadline rapidly approaches: the dismantling of the copper network. It will begin in January 2025 and end in 2030, forcing customers everywhere to switch to fiber.
In Hérault, the first four municipalities affected by the scheduled definitive shutdown of the ADSL service (on January 27, 2026) are Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, Saint-Jean-de-Fos, Pouzols and Argelliers. It will then be the turn of Arboras, Bélarga, La Boissière, Boujan-sur-Libron, Campagnan, Cers, Popian, Saint-Bauzille-de-la-Sylve, Saint-Guiraud, Saint-Pargoire, Saint-Saturnin-de-Lucian, Tressan and Vendémian to experience a technical ADSL shutdown on January 31, 2027.
Liausson, Gabian and Avène again
While 98% of the Hérault territory is covered, some municipalities are still without 4G installations, planned as part of the “New mobile deal''. Relays have recently been installed by the operator SFR in Assignan and Saint-Jean-de-Minervois. The relays in Liausson, Gabian and Avène have yet to be put into service.