4G and 5G deployment: operator data for February 2023

March 3, 2023 Joe Kenehan

Today we have the right to 4G and 5G deployment data for February 2023. As always, the data are coming of the National Frequency Agency (ANFR).

Free Mobile was the most active operator in February with 246 new 4G sites, for a total of 24,105 in the country. Bouygues Telecom was second with 135 new 4G sites this time, for a total of 24,780. Next comes SFR and its 102 new 4G sites. The operator with the red logo now has 24,647. Orange is last with only 29 new 4G sites. It still remains first for the total with 29,028 4G sites in the country.

On the 5G side, 30,097 5G sites have been declared technically operational by the operators. Almost all of these 5G installations are authorized on existing sites, already used by 2G, 3G or 4G technologies. Only four sites only host 5G. In February, authorized 5G sites therefore increased by 1.5%. According to operator statements, 76.5% of authorized sites are technically operational.

In France, four frequency bands are currently used to provide a 5G service:

21,310 5G sites are authorized in the 700 MHz band (Free Mobile), of which 16,652 are declared technically operational;
5 5G sites are authorized in the 1800 MHz band in Guyana (Outremer Telecom);
17,283 5G sites are authorized in the 2,100 MHz band (Bouygues Telecom, Orange, SFR and Outremer Telecom), of which 11,315 are declared technically operational;
24,635 5G sites are authorized in the new 3.5 GHz band (Bouygues Telecom, Free Mobile, Orange and SFR), of which 17,135 are declared technically operational.

Some of the authorized sites are shared: the sum of authorized sites per frequency band is higher than the total of authorized media.