Orange will dismantle the telephone network: when will Languedoc be affected ?

Il en sera bientôt fini du réseau filaire en cuivre, place à la fibre optique. MAXPPP – Franck DELHOMME

Avec le déploiement à échelle industrielle de la fibre optique, l'opérateur historique va pouvoir abandonner le réseau cuivre. L'opération a même officiellement débuté ce 31 janvier 2024. Explications.

The end of an era. As planned in the “very high speed” plan, now that optical fiber is fully deployed, Orange is launching the process of dismantling the copper network which it owns in its capacity as historic operator. Massively implemented in the 1970s for landline telephones, it is the one that has powered ADSL boxes since the 2000s. It is materialized by the “T” telephone socket.

We will soon have to unplug all the old telephone wall sockets. DR

The operation officially began on January 31, 2024. But don't panic, this is only the first of seven stages and, for the moment, there is no progress. This only involves a commercial closure of all offers based on the copper network – therefore ADSL – in 162 municipalities. The technical closure of the network will only take place next year, on January 31, 2025 for these same towns and villages.

A first batch in the region in 2026

L’formerly Languedoc-Roussillon is not affected by this first phase. Eight communes in Gard and four in Hérault, all of modest size – the largest being Aubais – are, however, part of lot n° 2 which provides for a technical closure in January 2026. There will be a little more, a year later, in lot n° 3 of 2,145 municipalities and 2.4 million households: 32 in Aude, 26 in Gard – including Bagnols-sur-Cèze -, 16 in the Pyrénées-Orientales and 13 in Hérault.

A "major"industrial project

The last four batches have not yet been communicated, "but the first condition to appear there is to have a complete deployment of the optical fiber or a technological mix available such as 4G or 5G Home which makes it possible to restore very high speed via the mobile network, indicates Nicolas Brochot, regional delegate of Orange. He talks about a "major industrial project". "Deconstructing a network is even more complex than building one", he adds. The operation will extend until 2030, a full seven years to dismantle the copper… as much as to deploy the optical fiber.