Orange subsidiary Totem won a contract to build 5G infrastructure into one of Paris’ new Metro lines, an agreement the company’s France chief hailed as staking its claim as a major player for indoor connectivity systems.

The company, which was created out of Orange’s passive infrastructure assets in November 2021, will deliver 5G across 16 stations and more than 33km of lines. Totem estimated the deployment would need in excess of 1,000 active antennas and require 40,000 hours of work to install.

Totem’s deal covers the under-construction 15 Sud line, which forms part of a major extension of the Paris underground railway system. Its contract is with the Societe du Grand Paris, the public sector organisation charged with the transport project.

The infrastructure company is set to complete the network by 2025 and operate the DAS system for at least ten years after launch. Once active, it will offer connectivity to all of France’s operators at a standard rate.

“With this agreement, Totem is fully staking its claim as a major player in indoor connectivity in France” MD for the country Thierry Papin stated.

The current Paris Metro achieved 100 per cent 4G coverage in 2020 after the four operators in the nation agreed to pool resources and share the network.

In mid-2021, Cellnex announced it had won a contract to supply mobile coverage on two of the four new Paris Metro lines.