Orange wasted little time in promoting its forthcoming French 5G network to consumers, revealing a December launch date, early adopter deals and tariff options only a week after the country completed its spectrum auction.

The operator said its 5G network would begin rollout in December 2020 with consumers able to sign-up to four different tariffs covering data allocations from 70GB to unlimited. Plans cost between €29.99 and €94.99 depending on the length of contract, amount of data and services already purchased from the operator.

Consumers signing-up to two year contracts are offered a price guarantee on the purchase of a 5G compatible handset, with early adopters also being given a free six months of its streaming service.

The announcement comes a week after France completed its spectrum auction, although regulator Arcep is yet to announce if it has fully finalised the allocation process. The frequency positioning section was ongoing as of its latest update (1 October).

France is behind several European peers in launching commercial 5G with consumers in other markets including the UK, Germany and Italy already able to access services.

The company’s rival operators are also pushing the benefits of 5G and started promoting it to consumers even prior to the auction with all three already selling 5G-ready handsets.