5 Oct 2011France Broadband Overview

In 2001, France had one of the weakest broadband markets in the developed world. However, it is now a country where more than 30 per cent of the population is enjoying high-speed Internet. France is also a leader in triple play services with all the major operators offering these bundles.

The high level of broadband penetration in France resulted from local loop unbundling (LLU) in 2000, when the national telecom regulator forced the former state-owned incumbent France Telecom (FT) to open up its network to rival operators. This encouraged other telecom operators to start offering competing broadband services using FT’s network. In turn, FT was forced to lower its own prices and improve services, becoming the first major telecoms company in Europe to launch residential VoIP services in June 2004.

Also in 2004, other operators were able to start marketing broadband services without subscription to a traditional phone service in the exchanges they had unbundled. In 2006, naked bitstream was made available to complete full unbundling outside of LLU areas, which allowed alternative carriers to extend their naked DSL offers nationwide. Since then naked DSL solutions have become increasingly popular.

In recent years France emerged as one of the European leaders in both ADSL access and penetration. However the emerging market for FTTH services is becoming a major growth area in the country’s broadband sector. Once the alternative operators like Iliad (Free), Neuf Cegetel and Numericable became strong enough to leave FT’s network, they started deploying their own fibre networks capable of offering up to 100 Mbps speeds. The French Government plays an important role in facilitating the widespread deployment of FTTH, not least through the economic development law passed in August 2008.