Pillar 2: Capitalizing on our infrastructure
Our infrastructure is unrivaled in the telecoms sector. This asset sets us apart from other operators. To capitalize on this advantage and continue to stand out from the crowd, we are leveraging Orange Wholesale’s expertise: we are continuing to roll out very high-speed broadband, accelerating the development of Totem and deploying Network Integration Factories.
We set ourselves apart early on through our ability to deploy fixed and mobile networks. We chose fiber at the right time, enabling us in just a few years to become the leader in Europe and a key player in Africa and the Middle East.
To continue on this trajectory, in 2023 we created the Orange Wholesale division to design and deploy our networks and market them to third-party operators and content providers.
In addition, we are investing through strategic partnerships wherever appropriate in order to share financing commitments and secure investments. On the fixed-line network, we plan to deploy an additional five million households connectable by 2025 in Europe, where the investment peak has already been reached, and two million in Africa and the Middle East¹. On the mobile network, Totem, the Group’s European TowerCo, is accelerating the development of our passive infrastructures with third- party operators, with the aim of achieving a colocation rate of 1.5 by 2026.
At the same time, we are pursuing our plan to upgrade fixed and mobile networks to very high-speed broadband, with the decommissioning of fixed copper networks in France, and mobile networks (2G, 3G) in all European countries by 2030. In Africa and the Middle East, where we have an installed base of over 30,000 mobile towers, we will be continuing to roll out fixed and mobile networks (4G and 5G) to support our growth in these regions, and help drive economic and social development.
Finally, in order to make better use of our infrastructures, we are scaling up the use of data and AI to build more efficient, resilient and high- performance networks. We are also deploying Group-wide network integration factories to accelerate the automation and virtualization of network operations, offer new on-demand services operating in Network-as-a-service mode, and boost resilience and security.
(1) Projection 2022-2025, excluding FiberCos.
Key figures
1.4
colocation rate of third-party operators on Totem-owned mobile sites in 2023
2026 target: a colocation rate of 1.5
€6.9 billion
(i.e. 1/6 of Group revenues) represented by the Orange Wholesale business
x2
Orange Wholesale France revenues doubled with independent MVNOs in 2023
10 awards
won by Orange Wholesale at the Total Telecom Congress World Communication Awards, including Best Wholesale Operator.
Submarine cables
A stake in 450,000 km of submarine cables, equivalent to 10 times the Earth’s circumference.
Submarine cables: Orange has a longstanding investment policy in this area, and has invested in more than 40 submarine cables and international consortia to date.
The Sophie Germain: a technological feat serving global connectivity
Spearheading a new generation of state-of-the-art cable-laying vessels with a low environmental footprint, the Sophie Germain joined our Orange Marine fleet, comprising 7 vessels. We consolidate our central role in the laying and maintenance of submarine cables little-known industry that is essential to the development of connectivity worldwide. With more than 264,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable installed by the end of 2023, and more than 950 repairs carried out, some at depths of more than 6,000 meters, Orange is one of the few operators to have mastered end-to-end connectivity. This capacity has been enhanced by the Sophie Germain.
Read more about the Sophie Germain:
Press release
(opens in a new window)Its technical characteristics, result of a sustainable innovation
(opens in a new window)Orange Marine activities
(opens in a new window)In France: network modernization continues
At the end of 2023, nearly 38 million homes and premises were connected to FTTH (Fiber To The Home)¹. We have made 21.8 million premises connectable (including Orange Concessions), representing more than half of all premises made connectable by all operators to date. Our commitment is helping to position France as a leading European country in terms of fiber coverage. In 2023 alone, we added 1.5 million FTTH households connectable.
And in March 2024, we renewed our commitment by signing a new agreement with the French government for the rollout of 1.1 million FTTH households connectable in medium-density areas (AMII zones) by 2025, and for the rollout of an additional 300,000 FTTH households connectable in high-density areas by 2025. This agreement is helping to position France as a leading European country in terms of fiber coverage.
This modernization is also reflected in our ongoing work on copper phase-out and 2G/3G phase-out. These initiatives are at the heart of our Lead the Future strategy, and underpin our commitment to be net zero-carbon by 2040, both in terms of energy consumption and the non-renewal of network equipment.
Moreover, once again this year, our mobile network came top of the Arcep rankings for quality of service.
(1) ARCEP Orange HD TDH Observatory Q4 2023
Find out more about Orange Fiber
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(opens in a new window)Open RAN network sharing: a first in Europe
In 2023, we sealed an innovative partnership with Vodafone to build and share an Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN). This agreement, the first of its kind in Europe, demonstrates our shared commitment to deploying this technology for future mobile networks in Europe and supporting the European Commission’s goal of rolling out 5G to all populated areas by 2030.
The deployment of an open radio ? access network is an opportunity for us to achieve greater diversity in our network of suppliers in Europe, and to capitalize on the advantages inherent in the Open RAN model. By sharing this network, we are in a position, together with Vodafone, to access greater flexibility in setting up new radio sites or upgrading existing ones, while minimizing costs and energy footprint thanks to network sharing.
“Orange is firmly committed to the Open RAN architecture, which will play a substantial role in shaping future telecommunications networks. It provides operators, on a shared basis, with flexibility and a capacity for differentiation.”
Atoosa Hatefi
Director of Innovation in Radio and Environment at Orange
Successful launch of our CDN offering
In 2023, we launched our Content Delivery Boost CDN (Content Delivery Network) offering in France. The service ensured high-quality broadcasting of Ligue 1 football matches and met social networking needs. Public authorities, gaming and e-commerce players have also been impressed by its quality of service, the robustness of its infrastructure, and the guarantees it provides in terms of security and data protection as a “trusted CDN”. We are the only network operator to have such a platform, and to be able to manage end-to-end solutions.
Learn more about CDN (opens in a new window)Learn more about Orange Wholesale
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