End of ADSL 2026-2028: Saint-Paul, La Colle, Villeneuve-Loubet, Mougins

The technical closure of the copper network is organised in national batches. The first batch affecting the Alpes-Maritimes falls on 27 January 2026: after that date, no ADSL, VDSL or analogue landline works in the five communes concerned, whatever the operator — Orange, Free, SFR and Bouygues all use the same copper network. Mougins follows on 31 January 2028 (first sub-batch of the 2028 wave). The department's other communes are staged until the complete extinction of copper, expected around 2030; the date for any address can be checked on the official Orange map.

Important: these dates are definitive closures. There is no individual extension and no grace period — preparation happens before, not after.

Typical profile: a historic stone village and scattered hillside housing — villas on large plots, private lanes, ramparts. It's exactly the profile where fibre eligibility comes down to the individual address: the village centre and main roads are generally connectable, but villas at the end of private lanes may require civil-engineering works (trenching, conduits) at the owner's expense, with lead times of several months.

Practical consequence: if your Saint-Paul villa is still on ADSL, test fibre eligibility immediately, request the connection quote if civil works are needed, and if the lead time overshoots the cut-off date, plan for Starlink — as the definitive solution or as a bridge while the connection is built. Second homes, numerous in the commune, are the most exposed: nobody on site to notice the cut-off, alarm and cameras gone silent.

Typical profile: residential estates, individual houses along the Loup river and hillside neighbourhoods. The commune is broadly well covered by fibre in dense areas, but the outskirts — the upper hillside lanes, the gorge surroundings — still hold pockets that are unconnected or hard to connect.

For remote-working households, common in the commune, the stake is continuity: the fibre migration must be tested and validated before the end of January 2026, while ADSL is still active. For addresses without fibre on cut-off day, a Starlink installation can be planned within days and integrates with the existing network without changing the indoor WiFi — details on our Starlink installation page.

The most contrasted profile of the three: on one side the large coastal co-owned residences (Marina Baie des Anges and neighbouring complexes), on the other the old village and the Loup plain with its business parks.

In a co-owned building, fibre depends on the building being connected: if it isn't, the general-assembly vote and then the works can take over a year — a timetable incompatible with January 2026 if nothing is under way. Affected residents have two ways out: a 4G/5G box (decent mobile coverage on the coast, but variable speeds in season) or individual Starlink where the flat's exposure allows it. For businesses in the parks still on SDSL/ADSL, the switch to business fibre or Starlink with a backup link should be treated as a business-continuity project, not a mere subscription change.

Two years' reprieve, but a profile that justifies planning even earlier: large villas on wooded plots, gated estates, high-end hotels and restaurants, SME headquarters. Three reasons not to wait for 2028: the January 2026 commercial closure also applies to Mougins (no subscribing to or changing an ADSL plan after that date, even though the line still works); wooded properties stack the challenges — long fibre connection on private lanes and a sky view to be surveyed for satellite; and business premises have every interest in using the migration to modernise their network (WiFi, VLANs, backup link) rather than replicating the old setup in a rush.

Our recommendation for Mougins: connectivity audit during 2026-2027, fibre/Starlink decision made, migration completed by mid-2027 at the latest — a year's margin on the cut-off.

The 27 January 2026 batch also includes Cap-d'Ail (dense housing overlooking the sea, a high share of second homes) and Théoule-sur-Mer (villas on the Estérel corniche, where the terrain complicates both fibre and mobile coverage — satellite is often the simplest solution there).

For all other communes of the Alpes-Maritimes — Nice, Cannes, Antibes, Grasse, Vence and the hinterland — cut-offs will be staged between 2027 and 2030 in successive batches. Check your date on the official Orange map, then move on to choosing the solution: that's the purpose of our guide the end of ADSL: which internet solution to choose, comparing fibre, 4G/5G boxes and Starlink for your situation.

• 6 months before cut-off: test fibre eligibility for your exact address; in a co-owned building, check the building is connected; list everything depending on your line (alarm, remote monitoring, phone, TV).
• 3 months before: order the chosen solution. Fibre: installation and tests, keeping ADSL in parallel. No fibre possible: Starlink site survey and scheduled installation.
• 1 month before: switch sensitive services (landline number ported to VoIP, alarm tested on the new link), verify every critical usage.
• Cut-off day: nothing to do — the sign of a successful migration.

For residents of the five January 2026 communes, the deadline is immediate. Contact us for an express audit: real eligibility, a costed recommendation and an installation scheduled before the date.