By Stuart Thomson

Orange has passed the milestone of six million fibre customers in France.

The company said that the passing of this new milestone demonstrated the French population’s strong appetite for the Orange landline internet network, with an average of 10,000 customers being connected to fibre every day.

At the end of last year, using its own funds and in partnership with local authorities, Orange had deployed fibre to 63 per cent of the 29 million premises eligible for FTTH in France, representing a 20 per cent increase in the number of premises in one year, Orange said.

This year, Orange said it would continue to work in all the zones where it is responsible for the fibre deployment, both in highly populated zones and AMII zones, where the government issued a call for investment letters of intent

Across the latter, with over 11 million connectable households at the end of 2021, Orange said exceeded the initial target, based on data from the country’s National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies.

CEO of Orange France Fabienne Dulac said: “With six million customers, I am delighted about the widespread adoption of fibre. This result reflects the full mobilization of all the Orange France technical and sales teams and those of its partners across all our regions. Over half of all Orange internet customers in France now enjoy fibre in the home or in their place of work. This success is based on our position as the leader in the deployment and our ability to connect 10,000 customers every day.”

Orange chairman and CEO, Stéphane Richard, said: “Orange and France gambled on optical fibre over 10 years ago now. A gamble that has paid off as France is currently the leading European country for fibre with it now available to 70 per cent of the country, a feat made possible in large part by the men and women at Orange who have already deployed 63 per cent of the existing FTTH lines. Every day, our employees and partners help to build the network we will use for the next 50 years.”