French Recipe for Broadband Success (?)

by on August 26, 2004

An interesting contrast to Tom Hazlett’s excellent article on Korean broadband (see Adam’s post below), comes from this week’s Economist magazine. “Europe’s coming leader in broadband is France,” the article proclaims, pointing out that French broadband growth was the highest in Europe last year. The piece credits France’s extensive unbundling regime (it has the second-largest number of unbundled loops in Europe). It doesn’t mention however, that France’s penetration rates have been well below most others in Europe, never mind Korea. Despite the Economist’s breathless support of French policy (unusual for this London-based magazine), I still wouldn’t bet on the land of the Minitel becoming the broadband leader anytime soon.

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James Gattuso / James Gattuso is a Senior Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy in the Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation. Gattuso also leads the Enterprise and Free Markets Initiative at Heritage, with responsiblity for a range of regulatory and market issues. Prior to joining Heritage, he served as Vice President for Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and also as Vice President for Policy Development with Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE). From 1990 to 1993, he was Deputy Chief of the Office of Plans and Policy at the Federal Communications Commission. From May 1991 to June 1992, he was detailed from the FCC to the office of Vice President Dan Quayle, where he served as Associate Director of the President's Council on Competitiveness. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife Dana, 8 year-old son, Peter (whom he relies upon to operate his VCR), and his four year-old daughter Lindsey (who does the DVD player.) He has no known hobbies, but is not nearly as boring as he seems.

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