October 2026 data for 4G and 5G deployment by French operators They are already published by the National Frequency Agency (ANFR). This is an opportunity to see who has been more active this time compared to the previous month.
Operators’ 4G and 5G deployment in October 2026
This time Orange was the most active operator with 240 new active 5G sites. This affected all frequency bands, namely 700 MHz, 2.1 GHz and 3.5 GHz. The incumbent operator has a total of 19,196 active 5G sites in France.
The second most active operator was Bouygues Telecom with 168 new active 5G sites, for a total of 19,760. This time, the deployment referred to the 2.1 and 3.5 GHz frequencies. In third position we find Free Mobile with 117 new 5G sites, for a total of 23,801. The deployment was carried out at the 700 MHz and 3.5 GHz level. The latter is SFR with only 75 new active 5G sites, for a total of 17,264. These were the 2.1 and 3.5 GHz frequencies.
The ANFR authorizes 56,668 5G sites in France, of which 1,527 abroad. Of these, 50,925 5G sites have been declared technically operational by operators.
Regarding the deployment of 4G, the data is as follows:
- Bouygues Telecom: 32,417 sites, +144 in October 2026
- FreeMobile: 31,591 sites, +68 during the same period
- Orange : 33,090 sites, +58 during the same period
- SFR: 31,150 sites, +61 in the same period
And for 3G:
- Bouygues Telecom: 30,109 sites, +68 in October 2026;
- FreeMobile: 6,632 sites, +14 in the same period;
- Orange : 29,863 sites, +7 in the same period;
- SFR: 29,655 sites, +11 in the same period.
