Andre Yoskowitz
22 Feb 2013 18:46
French president François Hollande has announced this week that the government will make a large investment to ensure that every household in France will have high-speed broadband by 2023.
The president expects half of the population to get the Internet by the end of 2017.
"High-speed broadband strengthens [France's] businesses competitiveness and the quality of [its] public services. [It] will bring more fluidity, more simplicity for communications between business, their customers, and the public sector as well," Hollande added.
Altogether, the investment required will be €20 billion, with a mix of public and private funds. Telcos will likely have to give €7 billion to fund the infrastructure in densely populated areas.
An ad hoc public body will be set up to coordinate the investments over the next 10 years.