ANFR has published figures for 4G / 3G mobile network deployment as of 1 February 2021.
As of this date, 52,538 4G sites have been licensed in mainland France, of which 47,796 are in service. Permits and operation of 4G sites continued to increase in January:
- License requests from 4G sites increased by 0,5%;
- 4G sites increased operation by 0.6%.
This January is generally weak when it comes to 4G deployment. Despite everything, Free does the best of it, topping 325 new 4G sites. Orange follows with 247 additional 4G sites. Bouygues Télécom ranks third with 175 sites operational. Finally, SFR brings back the track with 124 active 4G sites. The general classification does not change.
Here are the results of the 4G sites that entered service in France:
- orange (25,276 locations, + 247 in Jan 2021);
- SFR (21,498 locations, + 124 during the same period);
- Bouygues Telecom (21,106 locations, + 175 during the same period);
- Free mobile (19,040 locations, + 325 during the same period).
Focus on rolling out 4G for free
In addition to publishing the new 4G sites, Free has been slightly active in terms of frequencies 1800MHz with an additional 187 antennas Enabled Over the past month, or 16,288 in total. On the frequencies 700MHz, for example with gold, Free brings a small month compared to previous months, with 277 new antennas activated During the last month a total of 18,403 antennas.
Free uses 700MHz frequencies for 4G but also to spread the 5G network. Thus, this massive publication of Free makes it possible to provide national coverage since the launch of its shows. On the other hand, the speed will be slightly higher than that of 4G
Variation in 4G deployment during January
3G deployment: January during which Free was not very active
In addition to 4G, Free continues to roll out 3G sites, but with only 209 additional sites activated during January for a total of 19,385 active sites.
