The dismantling of ADSL begins this Friday, the deployment of optical fiber continues… The point in Occitanie

D’ici 2030, tout le réseau cuivre sera coupé en France. MAXPPP – Franck DELHOMME

The copper network will disappear definitively in 2030, an operation that begins this Friday. For the Languedoc cities, it will be from 2026. By then, it will be necessary to be connected to fiber. The point in the region.

No more “T” telephone sockets from this Friday, January 31, 2025 in 162 municipalities in France. Orange is launching a vast operation to dismantle its good old copper network, a technological revolution of the 60s that brought first the telephone, then the internet via ADSL technology, into all homes. But it has become obsolete, therefore expensive to maintain… and above all less and less used. And for good reason, new technologies allow speeds 25 times faster for a roughly similar cost.

The operation should last five years, until 2030, according to a schedule of which we currently only know the first three phases, because it must be attached to that of the deployment of optical fiber, scheduled as part of the France Très Haut Débit plan in order to offer an alternative to the user.

The T-plug will soon become… useless. DR

1- In the region, start of operations in 2026

Occitanie, apart from three villages in Haute-Garonne (Venerque, Albiac and La Salvetat-Lauragais) – “which will allow us to validate our industrial processes”, says Nicolas Brochot, Orange’s regional director for Occitanie – is not really concerned by this first stage. So don’t panic, for those who have not yet subscribed to a fibre optic subscription, it will still be possible to use ADSL in 2025 throughout the region. On the other hand, on 27 January 2026, a few municipalities in the former Languedoc-Roussillon will be included in the second phase of copper dismantling: eight in the Gard (Aubais, Bordezac, Congénies, Saint-Bonnet-du-Gard, Saint-Hippolyte-de-Montaigu, Saint-Maximin, Souvignargues, Théziers) and four in the Hérault (Argeliers, Pouzols, Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, Saint-Jean-de-Fos). Immediate consequence however, in these twelve towns and villages, ADSL will no longer be marketed from January 31, 2025, any new line opening will have to go through fiber.

2- More municipalities concerned in 2027

Lot No. 3, with a copper closure on January 31, 2027, will truly mark the start of the industrialization of the operation. It will concern 2,145 municipalities across the country, or 2.5 million premises, including 397 in Occitanie. On the Languedoc-Roussillon side, 13 towns and villages will be concerned in Hérault, 16 in the Pyrénées-Orientales, 32 in the Aude and 26 in the Gard. Although these are mainly small towns – the largest in Hérault will be Boujan-sur-Libron, Cers and Vendémian –, on the Gard side, we still find Calvisson and its 6,300 inhabitants and especially Bagnols-sur-Cèze, more than 18,000 souls.

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Subtlety, the impossibility of subscribing to a new ADSL package a year in advance will concern… all of France. More clearly, on January 31, 2026, it will become impossible to subscribe to an offer on the copper network, in Bagnols-sur-Cèze as everywhere else.

3- Four last batches from 2028 to 2030

Orange will then accelerate its dismantling. The next four batches are thus planned for January 4, 2028 for 8.4 million premises, then in November 2028, 2029 and 2030, each time for 10.5 million premises. However, the operator has not yet detailed the municipalities concerned by each tranche, the arbitration being carried out in particular according to the completeness of the deployment of optical fiber. However, with Orange committing to “a three-year notice period”, the cities affected by the fourth batch should be known in 2025.

4- “Optical fiber takes over”

At the same time, the deployment of optical fiber, the main alternative to ADSL, is therefore continuing. According to Arcep, the telecommunications regulatory authority, a coverage rate of around 90% has now been reached nationwide. This means that nine out of ten households can now connect to fiber, a good performance in appearance but too far from 100% to finish the job by the end of 2025, as planned in the France Très haut débit plan.

The rate of premises connectable to fiber, in the region, as of December 31, 2024. S.W.

Paradoxically, it is in rural areas that this deployment is most advanced. For example, in Hérault, the 285 municipalities whose connection was the responsibility of the Department through a public service delegation, show a coverage of 98.4%, “the remaining 1.6% being housing too far from the centres which will only be built at the request of the owners”. In 56 denser Hérault towns, entrusted to SFR and Orange, this rate is 94.4% while in Montpellier, where all operators can intervene, it is “only” 89%. “In the hearts of large towns, there is more complexity linked to heritage issues. The installation of fibre involves visual aspects, cabinets or boxes to be integrated, which requires close work with the town halls. But in Montpellier as in Nîmes, the elected officials have allowed us to connect a few thousand additional sockets and we are continuing this delicate work“, assures Nicolas Brochot, without however promising total completion by 2025.

We are almost there in Lozère, Aveyron and Lot, three departments that have come together to entrust this work to Alliance THD. “We were, at the end of 2024, at 98% deployment. Out of 330,000 planned sockets, 8,000 remain, including a thousand in buildings whose owners have so far refused to install them. Around 6,500, in homes that are too far away, will be done only on request. We therefore have 500 left to install, which will be done by March. We will then be able to say optical fiber is taking over”, summarizes Didier Ricaud, the director of Alliance. In these departments, we are therefore ready for the dismantling of the copper network.

5- Encourage users to “switch”

Users who have not yet done so still need to switch to optical fiber. “We have time, there is no need to worry, but this work is part of the heart of the reactor. So we are trying to maximize information, in particular by helping town halls to relay it”, continues Nicolas Brochot. Didier Ricaud confirms, however, that the marketing part promises to be just as important. “Despite this excellent deployment rate, we have a penetration rate of only 43% in Lozère, Aveyron and Lot, ten points below the national average. We will have to carry out a lot of communication work”, he says.

And education. Many users, who only use landlines, are unaware, for example, that they will not be required to subscribe to a more expensive internet package. “The operator provides a box into which the phone is plugged,” confirms Nicolas Brochot. But, he warns, “you still have to make the request.” Before the “T” disappears for good so that it remains as simple as a phone call.

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