It will provide coverage to all of France and provide even the most remote customers with fast broadband from January 2021.
The move is to fulfil the French government’s ‘Plan France Haut/Très Haut Débit, which mandates all of France should have access to at least 30Mbps internet access by 2022.
The service will be distributed by Orange’s Nordnet subsidiary, the main distributor of satellite Internet services for France since 2008.
Need for connectivity
Michel Jumeau, Executive Vice President, Orange France, said, “The period of lockdown we have just experienced has demonstrated more than ever the need for connectivity throughout France.
“With this agreement with Eutelsat, Orange is proud to continue to fight against the digital divide by offering very high-speed fixed broadband throughout the country”.
The agreement will apply until the KONNECT VHTS very high-speed satellite comes into service, when there will be a gradual transition to the new satellite.
Launched in January 2020 (picture courtesy of Arianespace), EUTELSAT KONNECT has total capacity of 75Gbps and support speeds up to 100Mbps.