French mobile phone antenna ownership and infrastructure, Digi Mart USA News (France): A mobile phone displays only the name of the operator to which the subscriber has signed up, and says little about who owns the rooftop, mast or land beneath a cell site. In rural areas and on urban buildings alike, mobile operators increasingly rent the locations where they install their networks, and a single visible antenna often involves several owners.
According to the French national frequency agency, the ANFR, as of September 1, 2026, France had more than 56,100 authorized 5G sites and 72,557 authorized 4G sites. These figures do not correspond to the number of masts, because one location can host 4G, 5G and equipment from several operators at once.
An antenna site is therefore not a single asset owned by one company. The land may belong to a municipality or a private individual, the mast or rooftop may be operated by a specialized company, and the transmitting equipment generally belongs to Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom or Free Mobile.
ANFR public databases show where authorized stations are located and which operators are declared there, but they do not systematically indicate who owns the land, roof, mast or technical equipment on site.
The landowner holds the land, rooftop terrace or water tower where the site is installed. A municipality, a condominium association, a landlord, a company or an individual may lease the location in exchange for a fee.
The support carries the antennas and equipment and may be a mast, a pole, a roof or a technical facility.
Companies known as towercos build, acquire or manage these infrastructures. Cellnex, Totem, TDF and Phoenix Tower International are among the companies present in France.
Mobile operators install their antennas and radio equipment on this support, which allows calls, messages and internet data to be sent and received. Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free Mobile operate these installations for their customers.
Radio frequencies form a fourth element. The Arcep, France’s telecommunications regulator, assigns operators the right to use certain portions of the radio spectrum.
In November 2020, it allocated frequencies in the 3.4–3.8 GHz band to the four operators, the main band used for 5G in mainland France. The ANFR authorizes the installation of transmission sites exceeding 5 watts, monitors frequency use and verifies compliance with public exposure limits.
A single mast may therefore carry the installations of several operators, without their subscribers using the same network. Each operator uses its own frequencies and equipment, except where a sharing agreement provides for pooling in a given area or for a specific part of the network.
On October 25, 2021, the French competition authority approved Cellnex France Group’s acquisition of Hivory, a company from the Altice France group that then managed about 10,500 sites in France. Cellnex valued the transaction at approximately 5.2 billion euros.
The group also announced up to 900 million euros of investment over eight years, including funding for up to 2,500 new sites.
The competition authority required the sale of part of the infrastructure to maintain several providers of sites for mobile operators, especially in large cities, where many rooftop terraces are sought after for radio equipment.
On October 7, 2022, Phoenix Tower International was authorized to take over 3,226 infrastructures divested by Cellnex and Hivory. The portfolio comprised 2,904 rooftop sites and 322 other installations.
On April 17, 2025, the Council of State rejected appeals filed by Valocîme against the approval of Phoenix Tower International as acquirer of these assets.
Totem, an Orange subsidiary created in November 2021, reported 19,700 sites in France in information published in 2026. The company stated that it had more than 100 clients and 13,500 landlords, meaning owners or managers of locations.
Totem says it manages more than 27,300 infrastructures in France and Spain. This figure combines masts, rooftop terraces and other installations and does not refer only to ground-based towers.
TDF published 21,925 points of presence as of December 31, 2025, in its annual results released in March 2026. Of these, 13,833 hosted equipment for the four national mobile operators.
TDF said it commissioned more than 160 towers in 2025, and at that time the group had 9,200 mobile hosting sites, including towers, rooftops, railway stations and other locations.
Cellnex uses the term “point of presence,” or PoP, to count the equipment hosted on its sites. In the first half of 2026, the group announced a net organic increase of 4.9% in its PoPs over one year.
Data from Cellnex, Totem and TDF do not allow companies to be directly ranked by the number of masts alone, since each counts its towers, rooftops, technical facilities and hosted equipment differently.
An operator installing an antenna on a mast or rooftop generally rents a technical space. The contract typically governs site access, security, electrical connection, the load capacity of the support and the installation of equipment.
A mast cannot accommodate an unlimited number of antennas. Its capacity depends on the weight of the equipment, wind load, available space, power supply and the capacity of the links connecting the site to the rest of the network.
In the first quarter of 2026, the Arcep counted 35.4 million active SIM cards on 5G networks. By the end of 2025, nearly 33 million SIM cards had used 5G, 8.3 million more than a year earlier.
This growing number of users does not always lead to building an additional mast. Operators may install new equipment on an existing site, add frequencies, strengthen its power supply or rent a new space on a support already built.
TDF stated that it commissioned more than 160 towers in 2025. That figure covers only the group’s own infrastructure, not all new mobile sites installed in France that year.
On November 15, 2021, the law aimed at reducing the environmental footprint of digital technology added article L. 34-9-1-1 to the Postal and Electronic Communications Code. This article regulates persons who buy or lease land in order to build a mast, pole or other structure intended to carry mobile antennas.
The text requires them to notify the mayor of the municipality, or the president of the relevant intercommunal body, in writing. They must attach a document showing that a mobile operator has entrusted them with a mandate to build the infrastructure intended to host its equipment.
This procedure does not give the mayor ownership of the radio equipment. It informs the local authority when land is acquired or leased for a mobile infrastructure.
A municipality that makes land or a roof available remains the owner of that property. A towerco may own or manage the mast installed on the site, while an operator runs the equipment that provides the mobile network.
The phone displays the name of the operator with which the subscriber holds a plan. It does not show the owner of the rooftop, the company maintaining the mast or the lease governing use of the land.
Cellnex, Totem, TDF and Phoenix Tower International own or administer infrastructure that hosts mobile networks in France. Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Free Mobile hold frequency authorizations and provide mobile services to their subscribers.
Behind a mobile site, the land, the support, the radio equipment and the frequencies may belong to different owners or license holders.
