France: Orange reaches 6m fibre customers
January 20, 2022
Multiplay telco Orange has reached 6 million fibre customers in France, suggesting the milestone demonstrates the French population’s strong appetite for the Orange landline Internet network, which it claims is the most reliable and powerful network ever built. Every day, Orange teams connect close to 10,000 customers.
It says the fibre rollout in France is an industrial project on an exceptional scale, both in terms of volume and intensity. At the end of 2021, using its own funds and in partnership with local authorities, Orange had deployed fibre to 63 per cent of the 29 million premises eligible for FTTH in France. With a 20 per cent increase in the number of premises in one year, it claims France is now Europe’s leading country for fibre.
“With 6 million customers, I am delighted about the widespread adoption of fibre,” declared Fabienne Dulac, CEO of Orange France. “This result reflects the full mobilisation of all the Orange France technical and sales teams and those of its partners across all our regions. Over half of all Orange Internet customers in France now enjoy Fibre in the home or in their place of work. This success is based on our position as the leader in the deployment and our ability to connect 10,000 customers every day.”
In 2022, Orange will continue to work in all the zones where it is responsible for the fibre deployment, both in highly populated zones and AMII zones. In AMII (call for expression of investment interest) zones, with over 11 million connectable households at the end of 2021, Orange exceeded the initial target, based on the INSEE database.
“Orange and France gambled on optical fibre over ten years ago now,” noted Orange Chairman and CEO, Stéphane Richard. “A gamble that has paid off as France is currently the leading European country for fibre with it now available to 70 per cent of the country, a feat made possible in large part by the men and women at Orange who have already deployed 63 per cent of the existing FTTH lines. Every day, our employees and partners help to build the network we will use for the next 50 years.”