SoftAtHome brings prpl to commercial scale with Orange Wi-Fi 7 rollout
July 8, 2026 11.42 Europe/London By Julian Clover


SoftAtHome says it has completed the world’s first commercial deployment of a Wi-Fi 7 repeater running a full prpl software stack, marking an important milestone for the open-source broadband platform.

The software is now live with Orange in Poland and France, with at least three additional Orange operations in Europe expected to follow. The deployment builds on an earlier prpl-based gateway rollout for Orange Jordan in 2025, but represents the first large-scale European deployment centred on Wi-Fi 7.

prpl was created to give operators a common, hardware-independent software platform for broadband equipment, reducing reliance on proprietary vendor ecosystems while allowing services to run across multiple hardware platforms.

The Wi-Fi 7 repeaters combine SoftAtHome’s Wifi’ON Smart Wi-Fi software with prpl and prplMesh, enabling interoperability across different gateway vendors while supporting features such as Multi-Link Operation, seamless roaming across Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7 networks, and automatic mesh optimisation.

Because the repeaters are compatible with Orange’s existing gateway installed base, customers can upgrade to Wi-Fi 7 coverage without necessarily replacing their broadband gateway. The software also uses SoftAtHome’s Eyes’ON analytics platform to provide operators with continuous visibility into Wi-Fi performance.

The deployment reflects growing operator interest in open broadband software, with prpl moving from industry trials into commercial networks as service providers seek greater control over customer premises equipment and a more flexible multi-vendor ecosystem.

Arnaud Bellivier de Prin, CEO of SoftAtHome, said: “Delivering the world’s first Wi-Fi 7 repeater on a full prpl stack and doing it at Orange scale across several European markets shows that operators can adopt an open platform, bring in new silicon partners and still preserve the seamless experience their subscribers expect.”

He added: “We are proud to reach this point alongside Orange.”

The rollout also highlights the increasing commercial availability of Wi-Fi 7, with operators now beginning to extend next-generation wireless connectivity through mesh repeaters as well as gateways.