In September 2020, Ookla presented an interactive map to monitor the use of 5G in Europe. We could see France’s lag behind other European countries. So where are we six months later? Which operators have opened the most websites in your region? Arcep is coming from Update your data to the Follow the deployment of 5G in France.
More and more 5G sites “commercially open” in France
The four big operators started too Deploy your 5G offering. Orange activated its offer on November 18, 2020, while Bouygues Telecom launched on December 1. Even if the strategies differ, as we’ll see in this article, the goal of each operator is more or less the same: offer national coverage by the end of 2021and at the same time offers the ability to maintain a good quality of service in very dense areas where data consumption is very high.
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In the document approved by Arcep, we distinguish between “authorized” websites that are “technically operational” or even “commercially open”. As explained by Arcep (Electronic Communications, Post and Press Distribution Regulator), Only “commercially open” websites are websites that allow public access. You still need a compatible smartphone and the correct cellular plan.
Here is the number of 5G locations that are commercially open depending on the operator: Bouygues Telecom has 1,885, the price goes to Free Mobile with 6,273 open locations, while SFR and Orange in a handkerchief with 869 and 953 locations open commercially in French, respectively Area are. Arcep states that a The same location can be equipped with multiple frequency bands Make 5G technology available.
The French zones that have commercially open sites depending on the frequency band – Arcep
French operators do not all have the same strategy
There are currently three types of frequency bands: the low frequency band between 700 and 800 MHz, the medium frequency band between 1,800 and 2,100 MHz, and the high frequency band at 3,500 MHz. We watch it Free Mobile is the only operator that has chosen the low frequency band, while the other three operators are positioned in the middle and high frequency bands. Orange has the highest number of vacancies in the high frequency band (just over 700). It’s obviously the one who delivers the best flow while waiting for the 26 GHz bank.
Distribution of the different frequency bands by operator – Arcep
As of January 31, 2021, most of the open locations were on the Île-de-France near Lyon on the Côte d’Azur or in other major French cities. The Medium-sized cities and the countryside are currently not well served. Obviously, as Arcep points out, deployments will evolve quickly.
