A method of anticipatorily estimating the radio coverage by a base station of a cell of a cellular wireless telephone network includes devising a numerical map having a direct-access data matrix of local and independent specifications for the positions and types of salients of a plurality of predetermined meshes of a mesh topology corresponding to the map. In an operational phase, a simulated sampling beam associated with the radioelectric propagation conditions is transmitted in the cell along an initial path segment from an initial position and along a determined direction and under determined conditions of propagation. The position of the instantaneous site is compared with the mesh topology to identify an incidence mesh at a salient. Post-incidence propagation conditions are computed on the basis of local and independent data for salients of the incidence mesh.