1 year of 5G in France: Orange is the fastest, Free Mobile the slowest

Arcep offers its study of the quality of French operators, with for the first time measures concerning 5G. The network was created a year ago in France.

The best 5G is offered by Orange

Orange is the best in 5G in France with first place for 366 of the 403 criteria measured. The incumbent operator dominates the others for the quality of service with regard to calls and the Internet, both in dense areas and in intermediate or rural areas. The same is true on the road or in trains. The average speed in 5G is 110 Mb / s. In comparison, it is 69 Mb / s for SFR, 55 Mb / s for Bouygues Telecom and 50 Mb / s for Free Mobile.

Bouygues Telecom may well be third in terms of speed, it wants to be first in terms of hooking rates of 5G in dense areas. It also comes in first place for 50 of the 403 criteria measured.

Another element unveiled by Arcep is the average flow rate that groups together. It is now 95 Mb / s in dense areas, 74 Mb / s in intermediate areas and 47 Mb / s in rural areas. Orange is once again in first place, at least as far as the cities are concerned. Indeed, Free Mobile manages to make a place for itself in rural areas with the second best speed and the best hooking rate in 5G.

Average speed down at Free Mobile

In addition, the study by the telecoms policeman reveals that the average speed has increased at Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom, but not at Free Mobile. It is the reverse in reality: it has fallen. Its average speed is 31 Mb / s. In comparison, it is 142 Mb / s at Orange. SFR follows it with 85 Mb / s. At Bouygues Telecom, it is 71 Mb / s.

Finally, since last year, Arcep has been offering a test consisting in seeing whether the downlink speed is equal to or greater than 3 Mb / s, to ensure a minimum of Internet browsing. The share of the test is 96.9% in dense areas, against 90.7% in 2020. The success rate is 94.8% in intermediate areas (88.5% in 2020) and 82.3% in rural areas (73.9% in 2020).