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Thousands of elevators are equipped with a telealarm system that works with 2G.
France – A consequence that has not been anticipated. While the extinction of 2G technology by telephone operators is approaching in France, many elevators remain dependent on this network for their telealarm system. Faced with this situation, the elevator federation called this Tuesday, August 19, condominiums and social landlords at “Hurry” to change the system of these devices in buildings.
The end of the 2G is announced “Between September and December 2026” According to the operators, recalled on RMC Alain Meslier, president of this federation which represents around 180 companies. On this date, « il [ne] nothing will happen ” When someone blocked in an elevator call for help via the Téléalarm system button, he alerted, since the connection will have “Summer cut”.
Now, according to him, “Today, more than 230,000 elevators […] are still equipped with a remote alarm with a 2G system »on some 650,000 aircraft in France, the majority of which (60 %) serve housing buildings.
“Hurry to make decisions quickly so that interventions can be planned”he launched to co-owners and social landlords, stressing that only one year remains to replace these systems with more recent 4G and 5G solutions, which is “A very, very, very, very constrained time”.
“Bulle effect”
He said he feared an afflux of untenable requests for the around 17,000 to 20,000 sector maintenance technicians, who will have “Substantial workloads (in addition to) usual work”. “This bubble effect in a few months will be very complicated to absorb and manage”he warned. He clarified that the cost of this intervention amounted to a few “Hundreds of euros”.
“If we cannot keep these deadlines, maybe a postponement [de la coupure de la 2G] could be relevant “he considered. Above all, he stresses, that the delay was « court » Between the announcement by operators in 2022 and the end scheduled in 2026. “Four years is very short. It was seven years in all other European countries ”.
“The Ascensorist will not be held responsible if a person remains blocked without having an operational telealarm system. We are just operators “assured Alain Meslier to AFP. On the other hand, telealarm is indeed an essential requirement of security, according to legislation, and condominiums or social landlords will be theoretically obliged to stop the devices which would not have a system to call for help, according to him.
In addition to the elevators, the telealarm sectors for houses, remote assistance for the elderly or dependent and home automation are affected by the extinction calendar of the 2G network in 2026 and the 3G network by 2029.
On its website, Orange indicates that it will cease its 2G network gradually, first in certain departments, until a final judgment at the end of September in mainland France. The SFR and Bouygues Mobile operators also program extinction for the end of 2026.