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THE NETWORK IS TO BE REPLACED NATIONWIDE BY 2030 The copper telephone and internet network is scheduled to be closed by 2030, starting with 165 communes on January 31, 2025. Here is how you

can check when your commune is affected. Millions of people in France’s 35,000 communes still use the copper landline connections for both telephone calls and the internet via an ADSL hub

plugged into telephone sockets. This system, which predates the internet by several decades, is scheduled to be replaced by the more effective - and cheaper to operate - fibre optic network.

Under the government’s Plan Très Haut Debit fibre connections should be made available to all homes by 2025, with those unable to connect eligible for a €300 grant to fit a satellite

internet connection. In addition to no longer offering new ADSL connections in the year before the scheduled closures, network operator Orange has begun informing households in certain areas

that they must switch to another offer. However, the scheduled closure of the copper network is staggered in annual waves, affecting: * 165 communes on January 31, 2025 * 834 communes on

January 27, 2026 * 1,409 communes on January 31, 2027 The network’s closure has yet to be scheduled in the tens of thousands of remaining communes. You can check if - and when - the network

is scheduled to end in your commune on the official website here. Nonetheless, this schedule is dependent on the replacement of the copper network by a viable fibre network. "If there

is no very high speed network in the municipality, there will be no decommissioning of copper," confirmed Orange France CEO Fabienne Dulac. NO NEED TO RUSH However, Orange has issued a

warning over companies exploiting people’s concerns over the end of the network. “Since the announcement of the end of the copper network, some companies have not hesitated to use

unscrupulous methods to sell fibre-optic contracts, including copying the logos of major telecoms companies and even of state bodies such as [national telecoms regulator] Arcep,” a statement

from Orange warned. Read more: Warning over hard sell of fibre internet as France’s copper network closes “It is true that ADSL has not been offered in some regions when people want to open

new lines, (but) there is no need to change a contract immediately.” It added: “Do not be taken in by an urgent and alarming sales pitch. “The loss of access to the internet over the copper

network will not happen overnight. Each operator will send out letters to clients when it is due to happen, well in advance and according to time scales which have been agreed by the

authorities.”