France - Broadband Market - Background Report October 2010

Synopsis

France has the third largest broadband subscriber base in Europe. Growth in 2009 has been bolstered by demand for high bandwidth applications, considerable investment in fibre infrastructure, and a pro-competitive regulator which has promoted access to France Telecom’s network for new entrants through local loop unbundling. Recent legislation has secured similar access for fibre infrastructure. DSL dominates broadband access, while fibre deployment has become a substantial proposition, particularly in the Paris region. Although the cable footprint only reaches about 40% of the population, the dominant cableco Numéricable has upgraded its network to compete with DSL and has itself entered the DSL market through acquisitions. This report assesses France’s fixed broadband markets to 2010, focussing on cable and DSL as well as developments with related technologies such as ADSL2+ and VDSL2. Updated statistics and analysis, as well as forecasts for broadband penetration to 2020, are available in the France - Broadband Market - Statistics and Forecasts report.