Whether you are a holiday home owner or living in France permanently, having a good internet connection is essential for many people. When planning a move to France people often check to see if their connection is going to be fast enough.
From 31st January 2024 people in hundreds of communes have a year to change from their fixed line service to fibre, mobile or satellite connection. A new website has been launched which aims to answer all the questions you may have about fibre optics and how it will affect you.
From January 31st thousands of homes in hundreds of communes must switch from the copper-based land lines to a fibre internet connection as landlines based on copper wires begin to be phased out. Those who still use landlines have a year to switch to a fibre, 4G or 5G mobile or satellite connection for telephone and internet. Orange, which manages the network, has begun informing households in these areas that they must switch to another contract.
From January 31st 2025 Orange will deactivate these landlines and proceed to dismantle them. Anyone who has not switched to another connection will no longer have phone / internet access.
You can see if your commune is affected this year at the official government website.
You can check if your area is already set up and eligible for fibre optics on the Orange website.
n the following years, the process will accelerate, with 2.5 million landline connections set to be dismantled in 2026 and 10 million each subsequent year. The old system is scheduled to be completely discontinued in 2030.
A map of the scheduled landline deactivations is available here.