France will be seeing brighter futures into the high speed Internet world. According to Max Colchester of The Wall Street Journal, the French government will be contributing a 2 billion euro loan to reform the country’s high-speed Internet networks.

“Monday the government would make a series of low-interest loans to telecommunications groups, to encourage them to develop fiber-optic networks outside major cities.” states Prime Minister Francois Fillon. “We are at the dawn of the era of high-speed Internet and fiber-optic networks.”

To boost productivity, the French governement wants to dispense high-speed internet connections in to minor cities and rural territories.

“Under the proposed system, telecommunications groups France Telecom SA, Vivendi SA’s SFR and Iliad will be encouraged to invest together to build out local fiber networks.” said Mr. Fillon

11% of French homes have access to a fiber connection, but essentially few of the households have joined the service, according to Taylor Reynolds, an economist at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

“The government is betting its €2 billion of funds will encourage operators to pump between €6 billion and €7 billion into France’s fiber networks.” proclaims Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, the minister responsible for the development of the digital economy

The €2 billion loan is part of a wider national loan program yeilding €35 billion, which includes €4.5 billion designated for information and communications projects.

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