Press Release  – Paris, France – Jan 16, 2024
Veolia Water, the world’s largest water services provider, manages the entire water cycle on behalf of local authorities and industries. Through its subsidiary Birdz, Veolia has taken a bold step into digital transformation, deploying over 3 million smart water meters across France. These meters deliver accurate billing, leak detection, and greater consumer awareness.
This achievement has been made possible thanks to a unique partnership: Birdz designs and deploys the meters, Orange provides nationwide LoRaWAN® connectivity, and Actility’s ThingPark platform powers and manages the network infrastructure. Together, these companies are delivering one of the largest smart metering rollouts in the world.
Veolia has been a pioneer in smart metering for over 20 years. After experimenting with proprietary networks, the company shifted in 2018 to LoRaWAN®, choosing Orange as its connectivity partner and Actility as the IoT platform provider.
Today, the Birdz–Orange–Actility collaboration supports:
The ambition: to remotely read more than 70% of all meters by 2027, leveraging the scalability of Orange’s nationwide LoRaWAN network, powered by Actility.
25 million
people supplied in France
6.9 million
end-customers with meters
3 million+
LoRaWAN® smart meters
1,400
local water contracts
2,172
drinking water plants managed
1.6 billion mÂł
distributed water per year
“Thanks to this unique partnership between Veolia, Birdz, Orange, and Actility, France is now home to one of the largest smart water metering projects in the world—proving how IoT and LoRaWAN are transforming utilities and driving sustainable water management.“
By shifting to an open, standards-based solution, Birdz can rely on Orange and Actility as strategic partners:
This combination of Orange’s connectivity and Actility’s IoT platform provides the reliability and scalability required for one of the most ambitious water digitization projects in Europe.
The large-scale deployment of Birdz smart meters, connected through Orange’s nationwide LoRaWAN® network powered by Actility’s ThingPark platform, is radically transforming how Veolia manages water distribution, consumption, and customer relations.
Veolia’s subscribers now have access to their water usage data in real time. This visibility empowers them to identify problems and inaccuracies directly. Accurate consumption data eliminates billing estimates, leading to fairer and more transparent invoices.
Customers are proactively informed when anomalies occur—for example, if a leak is detected. In 2021 alone, more than 60,000 customers received leak notifications, enabling quick interventions and saving over 3 million cubic meters of water, or 2% of all water distributed in France. This proactive approach reduces water waste, improves customer satisfaction, and significantly lightens the workload for customer service teams.
Smart meters allow Veolia to monitor consumption more accurately and focus on addressing true leaks. They also ensure compliance with legal obligations for precise water usage monitoring. Moreover, smart metering reduces non-revenue water by detecting fraud, unauthorized connections, and abnormal usage.
With granular consumption insights, Veolia can experiment with new ecological and dynamic pricing models—such as increasing rates during scarcity periods or offering incentives for responsible consumption. This supports both sustainability goals and customer engagement.
Beyond the current 3 million connected meters, Birdz is preparing to roll out additional IoT sensors to move from pure metering to broader environmental monitoring services. Leveraging Orange and Actility’s infrastructure, the project is evolving into a unified, multiservice IoT connectivity network that supports the full digital transformation of water utilities.
While smart meters are initially more costly than traditional devices, the value of the data they generate far outweighs the investment. By providing actionable insights, they help reduce water losses, optimize operations, and change consumer behavior. In the context of climate change and increasing water scarcity, the ability to reduce waste and consumption is not just financially justified—it is an environmental necessity.
| Metric | Value / Notes |
|---|---|
| People supplied with drinking water (France) | ~25 million |
| End-customers with meters | 6.9 million |
| LoRaWAN® smart meters deployed | 3 million+ |
| Local water contracts | 1,400 |
| Drinking water plants managed | 2,172 |
| Distributed water | ~1.6 billion mÂł / year |
| Remote read target | >70% of meters by 2027 |
| Connectivity & Platform | Orange nationwide LoRaWAN® network powered by Actility ThingPark |
| Impact Area | What Changes |
|---|---|
| Real-time data for consumers | Customers access live usage; easier anomaly spotting; more accurate billing (fewer estimates). |
| Leak detection & customer empowerment | Proactive alerts; in 2021, ~60,000 customers notified; >3 million mÂł saved (~2% of water distributed). |
| Network management & compliance | Focus on true leaks; accurate consumption monitoring (legal requirement); reduced non-revenue water via fraud/unauthorized usage detection. |
| Sustainable pricing models | Supports ecological/dynamic tariffs (e.g., scarcity pricing, incentives for responsible usage). |
| Beyond metering | Roadmap to add environmental sensors → unified multi-service IoT connectivity for utilities’ digital transformation. |
| Return on Investment (RoI) | Higher unit cost offset by operational savings, reduced waste, and behavior change—critical amid climate-driven water scarcity. |
For municipalities, confidence in connectivity is critical. With the Orange–Actility ecosystem:
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