Why Orange will cut 2G and 3G by 2030

This is an announcement that worries some French people, and in particular all those who live in rural areas. Orange, the historic operator, has confirmed its intention to cut the 2G and 3G network in France. Don't panic though, this decommissioning will be widely staggered. It will only arrive by 2025 for 2G and 2028 for 3G, and everything must be completed in 2030, reassures the company.

A legal obligation and an ecological action?

The objective stated by the operator is simple: free up new frequencies to allow the deployment of better quality 4G and 5G coverage. Orange also puts forward ecological explanations to justify its action. This development will indeed make it possible to achieve significant energy savings. Better optimized and faster, these networks consume much less.

The operator therefore argues that its objectives in terms of sustainable development have played a role “a key role» in this network development plan. Michaël Trabbia, director of technology and innovation at the Orange group, adds:

Focusing our efforts on optimizing the efficiency of our networks will also contribute to reducing our carbon footprint and achieving our sustainability goals of becoming Net Zero Carbon by 2040.

Let's also say it, the general public should hardly notice this development and the people who still use 2G are very few in number. The same is not true for certain companies which still use this mobile network for certain objects, we are thinking in particular of ATMs, and banks will therefore have to adapt.

Note that on the competition side, SFR and Bouygues have no obligation to cut their 2G network.