France amps up its broadband plans

Following the launch of its Digital France 2012 plan last fall, France's ministry of the economy has debuted its 'Haut Debit Pour Tous' or "Broadband for All" certification. The French government designed the "Broadband for All" program to enable it to reach its lofty goal of making broadband services available to its population by 2012. A key part of that investment will be a ten year, $14 billion investment in fiber-based broadband.  

Any service provider that's offering broadband services for $51.00 per month in a mainland France department can use the "Broadband for All" designation. In order to become certified under the "Broadband for All" designation, a service provider's broadband service has to offer minimum download and upload speeds of 512 and 96 Kbps, respectively.  

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