It will therefore be next Thursday, December 3, 2020, that Orange will launch its 5G in several large cities in France. With this first deployment, the operator announces that it will already cover 10% of the population with this new generation.
Around fifteen cities in total are affected by this launch plan for the historic operator in France. Among them Angers, Clermont, Nice but also Marseille or Le Mans.With such a deployment, Orange would immediately become the leading 5G provider in France, ahead of Bouygues, SFR and Free.
According to the president of the group Stéphane Richard, the cities were chosen based on the results obtained during the first 5G experiments. These took place during this year 2020. Faced with the debate caused by the arrival of 5G, the president of Orange wants above all to avoid conflict. It is for this reason that, faced with the scolding of many local elected officials, the Paris region can seem forgotten.
Indeed, many local elected officials, particularly in Paris, strongly question the deployment of such technology. According to them, it would be a health disaster, due to the multiplication of waves, but also environmental with the multiplication of antennas.
Future developments
Concerning the developments to be made to this new 5G, the operator currently wants to focus on 3.5 GHz frequencies. The hypothesis of Orange entering the low frequency market remains possible, although this does not seem to be the priority. In the medium term future, the arrival of DSS or dynamic spectrum sharing is expected to take place in 2023, at the earliest.
For the moment, a first deployment will therefore take place on December 3. It will allow the 10% of the population concerned to benefit from a connection 4 times faster,if their phone, as well as their internet plan allows it.
