France Speed Test - Orange, Free, SFR, Bouygues Internet

Fiber Broadband

Fiber-to-the-Home and Fiber-to-the-Building (FTTH/FTTB) coverage reached 93% of French households by June 2025. Orange passed 41.6 million of 44.9 million total premises. The pace of deployment was 520,000 additional premises per quarter in Q2 2025, down 20% from Q2 2024 due to focus on completing final difficult areas.

94% of premises in Orange's commitment areas have fiber access. 98% of premises in SFR's commitment areas are fiber-eligible. Free and Bouygues cover their committed zones through wholesale access and owned infrastructure.

The final 3.3 million premises remaining to be covered are concentrated in mountainous areas of the Alps and Pyrenees, remote sections of Brittany and Normandy, and scattered rural communities. France met the government target of near-complete fiber coverage by end of 2025.

DSL and Copper

DSL and VDSL operate on aging copper infrastructure. The number of ADSL subscriptions drops by approximately 500,000 lines per quarter.

Only 5.8 million DSL lines remained active by end-2024. Orange owns the copper network and began commercial closure of ADSL in January 2025. 162 municipalities lost ADSL marketing rights in January 2025.

Cable Broadband

763 additional municipalities will lose ADSL marketing in January 2026. 26,000 municipalities will end new ADSL sales by January 2027. Complete copper shutdown is scheduled for 2030. Cable broadband uses Hybrid Fiber-Coax (HFC) networks with DOCSIS 3.1 technology.

Fiber Broadband

SFR operates the largest cable footprint, formerly Numericable. Cable serves a smaller share of French households compared to fiber.

Mobile Networks

Mobile networks cover 99% of the population with 4G LTE. 5G deployment reached 52,812 authorized sites by February 2025, with 46,345 technically operational (88% of authorized). The 700 MHz band (Free Mobile and Orange) has 30,096 operational sites. The 2.1 GHz band (Bouygues, Orange, SFR) has 21,185 operational sites.

The 3.6 GHz band delivers the highest speeds with 13,688 sites for Orange, 10,812 for Bouygues, 10,631 for Free, and 10,513 for SFR. Orange achieves 273.4 Mbps average 5G download speed. Bouygues wins 5G Coverage Experience.

Free Mobile leads Time on 5G with users spending 22.2% of time connected to 5G. France targets 100% 5G coverage by 2030 in line with EU goals.

International Connectivity

France does not have major submarine cable landing points but connects to European backbone infrastructure through terrestrial fiber. Paris and Marseille serve as key internet exchange hubs. Lyon hosts high-capacity data centers driving the city's exceptional broadband performance.

Satellite Internet

Satellite internet from Starlink and Eutelsat serves remote mountain communities where fiber deployment is uneconomical.

Urban Areas

Urban centers in France have 4 ISP choices and gigabit fiber access. Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Nice, and Bordeaux all have FTTH from Orange, Free, SFR, and Bouygues. Lyon leads all French cities with median download speeds reaching 499 Mbps as of September 2025. Paris averages 174 Mbps download with median speeds of 76 Mbps.

Marseille, Toulouse, and other major cities report speeds above 150 Mbps. Large urban areas benefit from dense fiber networks, early 5G deployment, and multiple competing infrastructure providers. Lyon's exceptional performance comes from concentrated data center investment and modern fiber builds completed after 2018.

Rural France has nearly closed the broadband gap. Fiber coverage reached 88% of premises in rural zones by end of 2024, trailing very dense zones by only 6 percentage points at 94%. France achieved concurrent urban and rural fiber deployment through the national France Tres Haut Debit program.

Remote and Underserved

Private operators invested EUR 35 billion, representing 73% of total FTTH spending. Regional governments and municipal utilities funded fiber builds in areas where private investment was insufficient. The remaining 12% of rural premises without fiber access are concentrated in mountainous regions, islands, and remote agricultural areas.

Rural Areas

ADSL closure in rural areas follows fiber availability, with ARCEP requiring 95% fiber coverage before permitting copper shutdown in each municipality.

The final 3.3 million premises to be connected are disproportionately rural. These include farms, isolated homes, mountain villages in the Alps and Pyrenees, and communities in Corsica. Satellite internet from Starlink provides an alternative for premises where fiber deployment costs exceed EUR 10,000 per connection.

Urban Areas

5G Home Internet serves rural homes with strong mobile signal. France's urban-rural divide is now measured in connection quality and upload symmetry rather than basic availability. Rural fiber connections often match or exceed urban speeds due to lower network congestion.

Orange dominates the French broadband market with 22 million fixed broadband customers and 40% market share. Orange offers Livebox fiber plans from EUR 22.99/month (promotional, 400 Mbps) to EUR 50/month (Fiber 8 Gbps). Standard Livebox Fiber at 500 Mbps costs EUR 32.99/month after the first year.

Orange owns the copper network

Orange owns the copper network and leads fiber deployment. Orange achieves 83.8 Mbps average mobile download and 273.4 Mbps on 5G. Sosh is Orange's low-cost brand offering EUR 20.99/month fiber with no contract commitment. Orange leads ARCEP quality rankings with 91% of calls rated perfect quality nationally.

Free (Iliad Group)

Free (Iliad Group) serves 23.2 million total subscribers across fixed and mobile as of September 2025. Free offers Freebox Pop S at EUR 23.99/month for 5 Gbps fiber with no contract. Freebox Revolution costs EUR 29.99/month with TV and unlimited calls. Freebox Ultra at EUR 49.99/month delivers 8 Gbps symmetrical.

Free disrupted the French market in 2012 with ultra-low pricing, forcing competitors to match. Free Mobile leads Time on 5G with 22.2% of user time connected to 5G, more than 3 percentage points ahead of Orange. Free holds approximately 25% of fixed broadband market share.

SFR (Altice France)

SFR (Altice France) is the second-largest telecom operator in France with 26 million total clients and approximately 25% of broadband market share.

SFR offers fixed-price fiber plans from EUR 27.99/month (Starter Box, 1 Gbps) to EUR 36.99/month (Power Box with 200 TV channels). RED Box, SFR's budget brand, costs EUR 20.99/month for entry-level fiber with no commitment.

SFR achieves 87% call quality nationally and ranks third for mobile network performance. SFR leads cable deployment through the former Numericable network and competes strongly in fiber markets.

Bouygues Telecom maintains 5.3 million fixed customers. Bouygues offers Bbox B&YOU Pure Fibre at EUR 24.99/month with speeds up to 8 Gbps and no commitment. Standard Bbox Ultym costs EUR 41.99/month for fiber with TV and unlimited calls.

Bouygues ties with Orange for first place in very dense urban zones with 96% perfect call quality. Bouygues wins 5G Coverage Experience, Consistent Quality, and Video Experience according to Opensignal November 2025 report. Bouygues holds approximately 15% of fixed broadband market share.

Affordability

Entry-level fiber broadband in France starts at EUR 21-25 per month during promotional periods (first 12 months). Budget brands Sosh (Orange), RED Box (SFR), B&YOU (Bouygues), and Freebox Pop S (Free) offer EUR 20.99-24.99/month with no contract commitment. These plans deliver 400 Mbps to 8 Gbps depending on provider.

Standard pricing after promotional periods rises to EUR 30-40 per month. The average price of fiber subscriptions reached EUR 34.22 in 2025, up from EUR 31 in 2023 due to 10% price increases between 2022-2023.

Fixed Broadband Pricing

Mid-tier fiber plans at 500 Mbps to 1 Gbps cost EUR 30-40 per month. Orange Livebox Fiber 500 costs EUR 32.99/month. SFR Starter Box at 1 Gbps runs EUR 27.99/month.

Bouygues Bbox costs EUR 32.99/month. Free Freebox Revolution at 5 Gbps costs EUR 29.99/month. Premium multi-gigabit plans range from EUR 40-50/month.

Orange Fiber 8 Gbps costs EUR 50/month. SFR Power Box runs EUR 36.99/month. Free Freebox Ultra 8 Gbps costs EUR 49.99/month. These plans include TV channels, unlimited calls, and advanced WiFi routers.

France has no data caps on fixed broadband. All major providers offer unlimited data at every speed tier. Router rental is included in monthly pricing at no extra charge.

Affordability

Installation costs range from EUR 0-70 depending on premises type and promotional offers. At median household income of approximately EUR 40,000/year, a EUR 30/month broadband plan represents about 0.9% of income.

French broadband pricing is mid-range for Western Europe - less expensive than Switzerland or the UK for similar speeds, but slightly higher than Romania or Poland. Many operators now price fiber and ADSL identically, with Orange matching fiber and ADSL promotional rates for the first 6 months.

Fiber Deployment

Fiber (FTTH/FTTB) coverage grew from 50% of households in 2020 to 93% by June 2025. The pace adds roughly 2 million new fiber passings each year, slowing from 3-4 million annually during peak deployment in 2021-2023. Actual fiber adoption reached 25.7 million active subscriptions, representing 79% of all fixed broadband connections and 92% of all superfast internet subscriptions.

Legacy Technologies

France leads Europe in fiber take-up rates, driven by aggressive price competition and ADSL phase-out. The government target of nationwide fiber coverage by end of 2025 is nearly complete with only 3.3 million premises remaining.

DSL and VDSL are being rapidly phased out. The number of ADSL subscriptions drops by approximately 500,000 lines per quarter.

Only 5.8 million DSL lines remained active by end-2024, down from 11 million in 2020. Orange began commercial closure of copper services in January 2025. 162 municipalities lost ADSL marketing rights in January 2025.

763 additional municipalities will lose ADSL marketing in January 2026. 26,000 municipalities total will end new ADSL sales by January 2027. Complete copper network shutdown is scheduled for 2030. ARCEP requires 95% fiber coverage in each municipality before permitting ADSL closure.

5G Rollout

5G deployment reached 95% territorial coverage and 99% population coverage by end of 2025. 52,812 5G sites are authorized by ANFR, with 46,345 technically operational (88% of authorized). The 3.6 GHz band (n78) provides the fastest 5G speeds in major cities. Orange leads 5G performance at 273 Mbps average download.

Bouygues wins 5G Coverage Experience. Free Mobile achieves highest Time on 5G at 22.2%. 5G Home Internet is available as a fixed-broadband alternative in areas with strong signal, offering 50-300 Mbps. France targets 100% 5G coverage across all transport routes by 2025 and complete territorial coverage by 2030 in line with EU goals.

Cable Upgrades

Cable broadband using DOCSIS technology serves a limited share of French homes, primarily through SFR's former Numericable network. France prioritized direct fiber deployment over cable upgrades.