While U.S.-based service providers talk about penetrating the 93-95 percent of the population with broadband access, France Telecom (NYSE: FTE) has hatched a three-year plan that will increase its current ADSL coverage from 98.6 percent of residential homes today to more than 99 percent by 2013.
France Telecom's $81.7 million ADSL expansion project, which will begin at the end of this year, is an element of FT's 'conquests 2015.' With a focus on customer service, France Telecom said Conquests 2015 will "conquer networks and conquer customers by improving quality of service."
Interestingly, France Telecom's customer service drive comes on the heels of the launch of its quad-play package that combines wireless, broadband, IPTV and unlimited wireline calling. Maintaining decent quality of service will not only keep existing and new ADSL customers from churning to a competitive provider, but also be an attractive attribute to lure in customers that are considering a multi-service broadband bundle.
Broadband is big business in France. Driven by both France Telecom and various competitive service providers, DSL, and the ongoing build out of Fiber to the Home (FTTH), have both contributed to broadband growth engine throughout France.
As of beginning of June, the country had 20 million total broadband subscribers. Included in that mix were 10.3 million wholesale and 40,000 new fiber-based broadband service subscribers.
For more:
- TeleGeography has this article
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