Orange France phones down for 9 hours

Orange's mobile network in France was down for about 9 hours on the 21st of October 2026, the French news site Numerama reported. Customers of Orange and its cheaper brand Sosh lost calls, texts and data from 11:20 to about 20:30, Numerama reported.

Orange said the fault was in new network equipment and was no cyberattack, in a statement sent to Numerama on the 22nd of October.

Orange said a machine in its new network core failed

"Cet incident technique a eu lieu sur un équipement de notre nouveau cœur de réseau," Orange wrote to Numerama. It means the fault was in a machine in Orange's new network core.

A network core is the set of central computers that let each phone join the network, Numerama wrote.

Orange confirmed a new 5G core was behind the outage

Orange confirmed that switching on a new 5G core caused the outage, Numerama wrote on the 22nd of October. 5G is the newest kind of mobile network.

Nokia, a maker of network equipment, helped Orange with a temporary fix, Numerama reported.

Affected customers get double mobile data for 1 month

Orange will double the mobile data in affected customers' plans for 1 month, it told Numerama. Mobile data is the internet use a phone plan includes.

Some customers who complained got 10 euros off a future bill, Numerama reported on the 23rd of October. Orange announced no general discount, Numerama wrote.

Below we break down the 9 hours and 10 minutes

From 11:20 to 20:30 is 9 hours and 10 minutes, or 550 minutes, by our arithmetic. Orange said its last customers were due back at 21:00, so some waited up to 9 hours and 40 minutes, by our arithmetic.

About 21 million people have Orange mobile plans, the tech site 01net reported. Orange said only "une partie", meaning a part, of its customers were hit, so fewer than 21 million lost service.

What is confirmed and what is not

Orange confirmed the core fault, the 5G core link and the data offer to Numerama. The 10 euro discounts come from customer posts.

Key facts

Orange's mobile network in France was down on the 21st of October 2026, from 11:20 to about 20:30.

Orange said a machine in its new network core failed, with no cyberattack.

Affected customers get double mobile data for 1 month.