Andorra becomes one of the first countries providing full fiber optic telephony

The campaign to replace traditional telephony to fiber optic telephony is a new step towards the digitalization of telecommunications in Andorra.

This process has had as major milestones the installation of broadband through fiber optics throughout the country, the ADSL extinction and thus culminating in the replacement of copper telephony services. On 31 December, as was announced, the campaign ended. The Director of Customer Relations of Andorra Telecom, Josep Vilana showed satisfaction for customers’ response to this technological change. Currently, around 38,000 telephone lines are running through the fiber optic.
 
Vilana detailed the final results of the campaign. Only 33 business customers and 175 resident customers didn’t unsubscribe their copper lines, although they have been contacted repeatedly from Andorra Telecom informing them of the migration. These 208 clients represent a decrease of 61.5% compared to December 15, when the total volume of pending clients was 514. The Director of Customer Relations believes that, given the global number of users, it is a very low figure and according to previous experiences in the parishes of Andorra la Vella and Escaldes, where the disconnection took place on June 30, lines seems to have very little use and that the blackout may have little impact.

In this regard, he noted that, in many cases, such clients correspond to second residences or businesses that, despite having fiber optic, still maintain some services like fax in copper. Other people preferred the company to shut down the services, instead of unsubscribing. In any case, Andorra Telecom will not disconnect lines until January 9 to leave no customer without service during the holidays.