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To: Mighty Mizzou who wrote (52145)	8/14/1998 5:02:00 PM
From: djane	Respond to of 61433

France Poised For An Internet Boom [Isn't FT a big ASND customer?] (via 3Com thread) TechWeb - 08/14/98; 11:42 a.m. ET PARIS -- Internet usage in France has skyrocketed this summer, driven by French schoolchildren who use the Net for homework, and by Web-based coverage of the soccer World Cup. Subscribers to France Telecom's Wanadoo Internet access service grew fivefold in the past year to 266,000, the former monopoly telecommunication provider said this week. Moreover, the company said this figure could rise to 400,000 or more by the end of the year. Some observers say France is on the verge of an Internet explosion. Currently, there are around 1 million household Internet users, placing France in third position in Europe behind Germany (4.7 million) and the United Kingdom (2 million). Massive use of the free Minitel text-based terminals widely used in France since the early 1980s plus slow PC penetration have held back use of the Internet in France in the past, but that is changing fast. "France Telecom, which was slow to enter the market because of the popular Minitel, is now a driving force," said Petra Gartzen, senior industry analyst for Dataquest's Internet andEnterprise Strategies Europe program. "There has been a big increase in interest in the Internet in both the consumer and business sectors. "France is projected to show the strongest growth among the top three European countries with more that 10.1 million Internet seats by 2002." Dataquest sees the overall European market connected to Internet rising from the current 13.3 million computers to 69 million computers in 2002, Gartzen said. Revenue from Internet and other information services at France Telecom grew 4.7 percent in the first half of this year to reach $580 million, according to the company's half-year financial results announced Thursday. The company posted an overall increase in revenues of 3.5 percent to 78 billion French francs ($13 billion). Mobile phone revenue jumped 47.7 percent, but revenues from fixed telephony slumped again, this time by 5.5 percent. France Telecom will report its first-half profits later this year. Since deregulation of the French market on Jan. 1, France Telecom has been strongly challenged in the Internet access market by the new consortium of Cegetel-Canal Plus, which bought 55 percent in America Online and CompuServe in France. AOL and Germany's Bertelsmann hold 45 percent. The four players, which won European Union approval of their link last month, now have 285,000 subscribers in France. France Telecom is investing heavily to regain the lead with Wanadoo. [Nicer words were never spoken.] During the World Cup, the official site had 1.7 billion hits. New user-friendly sites are being introduced and directories upgraded. "Internet traffic has increased four-fold in the past six month. Our competitors have overtaken us for the moment because we have been concentrating on quality," said Ute Mahieux, France Telecom's spokeswoman. The French government, which still owns 75 percent of France Telecom, plans to sell an additional 12 percent of its shares by the end of the year. The $7.5 billion expected to be raised will go toward buying a 2 percent stake in Deutsche Telekom, its main partner, and in developing Internet and other services. "French Internet use is still restricted by the low use of home PCs. But firms' increased use of Internet is spilling over into households," said Gartzen. "The number of commercial and other sites has increased dramatically in the past few months. All of a sudden there is great enthusiasm." This view is shared by the French Internet Society. "Internet is taking off because of telecoms deregulation," said spokeswoman Alexandre Nappa. o~~~ O