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Paris to invest millions to bring high-speed internet to rural France

The Local France
The Local France - [email protected]
Paris to invest millions to bring high-speed internet to rural France
Marcello Graciolli, Flickr

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has announced that €100 million has been set aside to make high-speed internet available to households in the most isolated parts of the country by 2022.

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At the moment 7.5 million people in France are unable to get a high-speed connection, according to consumer group UFC Que Choisir.
 
And some half a million have no internet at all.
 
But the government, intent on making this a thing of the past with the "High Speed France" project, has announced that €100 million has been earmarked to make sure that by 2022 even households in the most rural areas have access to broadband.
 
 
The government plans to make "good internet access" available to the whole country by 2020 and very high-speed access by 2022, meaning a speed of three megabits a second or more, according to a government scheme announced in 2013.
 
French president Emmanuel Macron said to the Senate this summer that he wanted to bring the deadline forward to 2020. 
 
However a survey by French consumer group UFC-Que Choisir published in September revealed a huge divide between France's rural and urban areas and claimed the government's “High Speed France” project was failing miserably.
 
It estimated the scheme is at least 10 years behind its planned deadline and the target won't be achieved until 2035 if work continues at the current rate. 
 
France is lagging behind other European countries, as 95% of Dutch residents have access to speeds of 4Mbps or more, with Switzerland, Denmark, and Sweden achieving similar levels. 
 
You can check the available internet speeds in your area on the France Très Haut Débit website.

 
 
 
 
 
 

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