For an ambitious plan to ensure every household in his country will be equipped with high-speed broadband by 2023, French president Francois Hollande is seeking private and public investment.
The process of imbuing the entire country of France with highspeed broadband is expected to cost €20 billion or roughly $27 billion. Approximately half of France's households will be equipped with highspeed broadband by 2017, if Hollande's plan goes accordingly.
Hollande believes the plan will also create 10,000 new jobs, reports ZDNet.
"High-speed broadband strengthens [France's] businesses competitiveness and the quality of [its] public services," says Hollande. "[It] will bring more fluidity, more simplicity for communications between business, their customers, and the public sector as well."
The estimated €7 billion that it should cost to equip France's more densely populated areas with highspeed broadband will likely come from a great deal of funding through telcos, says ZDNet.
It has not yet been decided how the same €7 billion it should cost to similarly equip less populated areas will be divided among the public and private sectors. The process in these local areas, however, will be supported by the public infrastructure.
The final portion of the €20 billion will be used for the least populated areas, which will be provided for solely by the public sector — funding from local communities and the state itself.
An upcoming March meeting dedicated to the topic of France's digital economy will likely be the time in which a more specific iteration of the plan will be revealed.
France's La Tribune suggests a "very small" new telecoms subscription tax might be ratified to help with the funding of the plan.
It is possible the decision by Hollande may be based in part on France's being notoriously behind when it comes to FTTx (Fibre To The Home) household penetration, with a ranking of 18th that leaves it trailing Sweden, Russia and Portugal, thanks to a less than five percent FTTH penetration throughout the nation.
Like what you're reading? Follow @profklickberg.
