Orange has started removing the switched telephone network or PSTN in a first geographical area in France. Closures will be more regular from 2023 according to the operator.
Already in 2016, Orange mentioned its wish to gradually abandon the traditional telephone in favor of IP technology (for Internet Protocol), the global standard. In 2018, the operator took a first step by stopping the marketing of PSTN fixed telephone lines. One year later, Orange announces this time the end of the opening of Numéris lines from November 15, 2021.
And as the operator recalled, the first closures of RTC zones are not planned before 2023, ARCEP having required a period of 5 years between Orange’s announcements and the closing of a “batch of plates” (editor’s note: batch of fixed lines) in due form. And precisely, in order to anticipate possible problems with the technical shutdown of PSTN accesses, Orange has chosen to eliminate landlines from October 15, 2021 in six municipalities in South Finistère (Concarneau, Rosporden, Melgven, Elliant, Saint-Yvi, Tourch) and a town in Ile-de-France (Osny).
“In these municipalities and, from October 15, 2021, telephone service on PSTN will no longer be provided, regardless of the telecommunications operator. This concerns all residential, professional, administrative or business customers who have a fixed telephone line plugged into a T-shaped wall socket ”, details the operator on its official website.
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Orange begins to remove the fixed network
In other words, it will therefore be necessary to install new equipment between the telephone socket and the telephone to call with IP technology, in this case an Internet box. And what will happen if you refuse to migrate to a “VoIP” offering? According to the French Telecoms Federation, your contract will be terminated and your PSTN access will be cut off during the technical shutdown.
Regarding Orange customers who live in the aforementioned municipalities, the operator claims to have them “contacted and warned on numerous occasions, through multiple means since August 2020 ″. The second phase of shutdown of RTC zones is scheduled for October 15, 2023 and this time it will concern 1237 municipalities distributed between Morbihan, Vendée, Charente-Maritime, Seine-et-Marne, Haute-Loire and Haute-Garonne. Another wave is then set for October 15, 2024.
Source: Orange and French Telecoms Federation