Seven years after the signature of an unprecedented agreement between the Government, Arcep and the country’s four main mobile operators, the New Deal for Mobile emerges as a shared success story thanks to a close partnership between the operators, government departments and local authorities.
Since its launch in 2018, this rollout plan has been fulfilling its goal of achieving nationwide 4G coverage and eradicating mobile white areas across France. The experience demonstrates that the New Deal for Mobile owes a great deal to the successful cooperation between stakeholders, and particularly with local elected officials.
FFTélécoms has been public authorities’ partner in implementing the New Deal for Mobile. To this end, it has been responsible for inaugurating 180 4G mobile cell sites since 2018, which illustrates the concrete reality of deployments, by emphasising the targeted coverage scheme in particular.
Through this unprecedented and ambitious mechanism, mobile operators, Bouygues Telecom, Free Mobile, Orange and SFR, have each committed to covering 5,000 areas, which had been identified jointly by local authorities and government departments. Arcep provides a quarterly status update on the New Deal for Mobile on its website. As of 30 September 2024, operators had built and put into operation 3,231 new multi-operator 4G cell sites thanks to the targeted coverage mechanism.
Alongside this mechanism, the New Deal for Mobile imposes other mobile network rollout obligations on operators, with deadlines continuing up to 2031. They include a target of 99.8% 4G deployment on existing mobile network cell sites, extending the decent coverage levels for the population to 99.4% on priority transport corridors, and deploying 1,000 fixed 4G cell sites, of which 729 were up and running as of 30 September 2024.
Marc FERRACCI: “Launched seven years ago, the New Deal for Mobile is a tremendous success story: people in France now enjoy among the best 4G coverage in Europe! This result is an achievement shared by local authorities, operators and the Government. These high-quality infrastructures give us the ability to tackle 2025 and the reindustrialisation of our territories with determination.”
Laure de LA RAUDIÈRE: “Everyone has committed to this paradigm shift in frequency assignments, under the impetus of elected officials’ policies: the Government and Arcep for its design, operators naturally for the collective and construction work, local authorities and the State for the choice of targeted coverage areas, Arcep in monitoring operators’ obligations. This public policy innovation has made it possible to provide a precise response to the population’s actual needs.”
Laurent HALIMI: “The Fédération Française des Télécoms and every operator have been fully mobilised for more than seven years to complete New Deal for Mobile deployments. Over 3,200 new multi-operator 4G cells sites, identified by elected officials working in project teams, have been built and made operational by operators. These deployments have changed the lives of the people in those parts of France. We are fully committed to our role in advancing digital development in every single territory.”