In a statement published by Orange, the telecom company announces that its subsidiary TOTEM will provide mobile coverage for the future line 15 of the Paris metro. With this announcement, this next line should be one of the first to be connected end-to-end with 5G. All of the 33 kilometers of the southern portion of line 15, which is scheduled to open in 2025, will benefit from an ultra-high speed connection.
The Paris metro has been fully connected to 4G for more than two years
The history of 4G in the metro in France is very recent: it was in 2017 that the Toulouse metro became the first in France to be fully connected to very high speed. Thus, all of its users had the possibility overnight of consulting the Internet or making calls in the trains using their smartphone. At the end of 2018, Toulouse was joined by Rennes then the following year by Lille and Lyon.
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In Paris, due to the large number of metro lines (16 in total), coverage of the entire network took time and could not be achieved until 2020. “ To deploy these technologies across the entire network, RATP and the telephone operators had to manage many technical constraints in perfect cooperation. […] on infrastructure that is often underground and sometimes centuries old ” specified the RATP in a statement. Access to mobile broadband concerns all the trains running inside the tunnels, but also the stations and access tunnels to the metro.
Line 15 South of the Grand Paris Express, the first to benefit from the 5G network
Line 15 is part of the Grand Paris Express project. This aims to deploy four new fully automatic metro lines (lines 15, 16 and 17 and 18), while extending certain lines of the current network (in particular lines 11 and 14) in order to create connections.
The aim is to ensure that the towns of the inner suburbs of Paris are connected without the inhabitants of these suburbs having to go through Paris. In total, this should represent nearly 200 km of new tracks, the development of 11 existing stations and the creation of 60 new stations.
By 2025, the southern portion of line 15 should be open to the general public between Pont de Sèvres in Hauts-de-Seine (92) and Noisy-Champs in Seine-Saint-Denis (93). By then, the 5G deployment should be completed by TOTEM. ” The technological challenge is particularly important in tunnels, where it is crucial to reduce the size of equipment as much as possible and to secure cohabitation with other communication systems. “says Orange.
Thus, the operator will ensure that 5G infrastructures can benefit all its competitors. In total, this project should cost around 10 million euros.
What future for 5G in the Paris metro?
At present, 5G is deployed mainly in large French cities and is beginning to appear in medium-sized towns. By 2025, France hopes that two thirds of its population will have access to mobile ultra-high speed, covering all French urban areas and the main roads. A quarter of the 5G sites that will be set up will be in sparsely populated areas.
As for the Paris metro, the RATP hopes that the entire network (including those of the Grand Paris Express) will be connected to 5G. This should be done gradually, line by line throughout the decade.