Orange Poland has passed three million premises with FTTH technology, with the operator also exploring the potential of 450MHz spectrum to connect the energy sector.
The operator’s fixed line rollout began two years ago and the technology has already been deployed in 116 towns and cities. In 34 of these, FTTH passes more than half of their buildings. To date, Orange Poland has signed up 300,000 subscribers. It is aiming to pass five million homes by 2020 and has pledged PLN4 billion (€936 million) to fund the project.
Jean-François Fallacher, CEO of Orange Polska, said: “We are pleased that Poles choose Orange FTTH services more and more readily. Especially as over 80 percent of customers choosing FFTH migrate to us from competitors. After the third year of our rollout program 10 percent of homes and businesses passed by FTTH have become our customers.”
Meanwhile, the operator has tested the capabilities of 450MHz to connect meters, monitor devices, control infrastructure and run critical communications across an energy network by using LTE-M.
It worked with Ericsson on the trial, which follows the Polish government’s decision to install 1.5 million smart meters by the end of 2020.
Maciej Zengel, Director of Network and Mobile Infrastructure Strategy at Orange Poland, said its network of 11,000 base stations would help it launch LTE-M services quickly and comprehensively across the country.
Orage Poland already runs Internet of Things services through one million SIM cards deployed throughout Poland.
In June, the operator held a trial of cloud RAN with Nokia, which it said would serve as part of its preparations for 5G.