5G SA: shaken up by Free, Orange responds (partially) to the troublemaker
It was suspected that the other operators would not leave the field open for long. Free after its announcement yesterday around 5G SA. Orange did not prove us wrong, since the firm simply took a handful of hours to write and launch its own press release on the subject on September 19. However, Orange had to make a lot of concessions to be present in the field of communication in the face of Free, at the risk of appearing very timid.
5G SA is coming to Orange, but not for everyone
At Free, all 5G customers can now benefit from 5G SA provided they activate the option in their subscriber area, have a compatible terminal, and are within range of an adequate 3.5 GHz antenna. This deployment with multiple conditions remains better than that of Orange for the moment.
The historic operator indicates that we will have to wait until October 10 for the launch of a new offer called 5G+ Home. Also dependent on Orange's 10,401 operational sites in 3.5 GHz (Free has 6,950), the offer only concerns 5G boxes at home replacing xDSL or fiber connections. Today, 70% of the territory is covered by Orange's 5G 3.5 GHz (compared to 95% for Free, which uses less efficient 700 MHz to inflate its figures).
The number of people concerned will therefore be measured, and Orange is primarily targeting professionals here. Business customers can already test this 5G SA network. For the arrival of 5G SA — or 5G+ as the company has decided to call it — on mobile, the conclusion of the press release is more or less clear: “It is with this experience with businesses that Orange is preparing other upcoming offers, on the consumer and B2B markets, in 2025.“In short, we will have to wait. Same thing for the prices and the exact characteristics of the 5G+ Home offer.
5G SA, 5G+: the fair of names and technology
As a reminder, 5G SA (for StandAlone Access) uses a core network specifically designed for 5G. Unlike 5G NSA, which uses 4G infrastructure and equipment. It is the latter, which could ultimately have been named “5G-“, that you are using today, with lower performance compared to “pure” 5G.
Orange has therefore decided to name its 5G SA “5G+”, congratulating itself in passing on its use during the 2024 Olympic Games on the Olympic sites. However, in a few years when 5G Advanced (5.5G) arrives, the choice of having added this “+” to qualify 5G SA could well pose a problem of understanding for users. Unless, of course, we opt for a clear “5G+++ of death that kills”.
