Work on removing copper telephone wires has started across communes in south-west France and will soon spread to other areas.
Due to be completed by 2030, the work will involve tens of thousands of kilometres of wires being rolled up and recycled. Households must instead find fibre optic or other solutions for telephone and internet access.
Telecoms regulator Arcep’s latest quarterly figures show fibre optic is available for 89% of households in rural communes, up from 68% in 2024. In small towns, fibre optic cables are available in 92% of homes and in larger towns and cities, 94%.
“Our rules for the removal of the copper telephone lines are strict – they can only be lifted where the commune has fibre optic cable connections available,” an Arcep spokesperson told The Connexion.
Click here to check if the end of copper internet connection is scheduled in your commune in France
Syndicate connection
“Work on ensuring that communes are connected depends on local authorities, some of whom signed directly with operators to do the work, like Orange, while others formed syndicates, such as Nouvelle-Aquitaine Très Haut Débit (NATHD) to oversee the work.”
Where copper wires are lifted, the old T plugs for telephones, used for decades in France, will no longer work. Instead, each house will need a ‘box’ capable of providing internet and telephone services, with the old land line passing through it.
Land lines will keep the same number as before, even if, with the switch to fibre, the household changes its telephone service provider.
The change means that landlines will no longer work in the event of a power cut, or when operators have problems with their internet systems.
“Most people have mobile phone signals now, and it is recommended that each household has a battery-powered mobile phone to use when this happens,” said the Arcep spokesperson.
The change means that Orange, the state-controlled company formed from the old France Telecom when the monopoly on telephone services was broken, will no longer be responsible for repairing broken cables in the fibre optic network.
Fibre optic connections
This will instead be the responsibility of the operator providing the 'box’ to the customer, as long as the break is between the house and the electronics cabinets found in each commune, often near the mairie, which contain the fibre optic connections.
If the break is on the other side, it will be the responsibility of a mix of new network owners who will inherit it from Orange.
Arcep said the public would not have to worry about where the break was.
“Their point of contact will always be their telephone operator, and if the break is on a part of the network not owned by the operator, it is up to them to sort it out,” said the spokesperson.
“So, if your operator is Orange, for example, and the break is on a part of the network owned by NATHD, it is up to Orange to get hold of NATHD and make sure a repair is made.”
He added: “We will be very strict about this. Operators will not be able to pass the blame on to someone else – it is their responsibility to fix connections.”
Work is continuing to make fibre optic cables available to all properties in France.
Where this is not possible, because of the remoteness of a home for example, operators will have to offer an appropriate alternative before Orange receives approval to lift the copper lines.
This is most likely to be a box which links to a 4G or 5G mobile phone network rather than to the fibre optic network.
However, in some cases a satellite service might be proposed, either through Elon Musk’s Starlink or another provider.
Orange has signed agreements with two satellite operators this year and, in 2023, started selling its own satellite service in partnership with Nordnet.
Making the cut
In Nouvelle-Aquitaine, 10 communes in Corrèze had their copper telephone connections cut in January. Another 52 will be cut by January 2026, as well as 45 in Charente and 12 in Haute-Vienne.
A map showing when communes are scheduled to have their copper network cut is available here.
The Dordogne department said in June that its five-year, €500million, project to bring fibre optic to its 489 communes had ended, with the last connection made at the town of Saint-Sauveur-Lalande.
*Government grants to give remote houses not covered by the fibre optic network access to high-speed internet are available until the end of 2025 under a scheme called Cohésion Numérique des Territoires.
It mainly covers satellite connections, 4G telephone internet boxes or, in a few places, Local Area Networks – high-speed radio links.
The grant is €300 unless you receive French social security benefits, in which case it rises to €600.
Commercial operators will handle the grant and take it off their bill when they connect the home.
