France launches 20 bln euro fibre broadband rollout

[onehandle]

Feb 20 (Reuters) - France will pledge nearly 20 billion euros ($27 billion) Of public and private funds over the next decade to speed up construction of high-speed fibre broadband networks and spur economic growth. Telecom operators such as France Telecom and Vivendi have been slow to invest in such projects because of the cost.

"High-speed broadband will strengthen the competitiveness of our companies and the quality of our public services," President Francois Hollande said on Wednesday in a speech outlining the plan. "It is an opportunity to preserve and develop employment." High unemployment and belt-tightening from companies and consumers have brought the French economy to a standstill.

Hollande has said growth this year will fall short of his government's 0.8 percent target, pushing deficit-cutting goals further out of reach. Three tranches of more than 6 billion euros each will fund the planned network rollout, Hollande said. One will come from network operators, one from a mix of operators and local government and the last from state and local-government money.

Local governments' outlay will be funded using tax-free, regulated deposits gathered by state bank Caisse des Depots. By 2017, the end of President Hollande's first term, 50 percent of the country will be covered under the plan.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/20/france-broadband-idUSL6N0BKDWT20130220

Meanwhile, Republicans are cutting funding that does anything to progress society.

[rurallib]

1. I think Repubs are still suspicious of the telephone machine

[msongs]

2. meanwhile our government officials are trying to do outdo each other for austerity measures nt

[Earth_First]

3. We have entered a new period of The Dark Ages in the US...

As the rest of the world progresses forward, we are reverting in some ways in a race to the absolute bottom.

:sigh: