French mobile phone users are getting better deals than British, German and Spanish subscribers as a result of cut-throat competition and regulatory pressure, according to a report.

The country is also already preparing for next-generation networks, known as 4G, and will allow users to benefit from connection speeds of almost 100 MB/s, by 2011-2012, compared with approximately 3.6 MB/s for current 3G networks.

France Telecom is also investing heavily in research and development, with a budget of €600 million allocated to 4,200 researchers and engineers. The presence of international companies that have chosen France to set up industrial or research facilities – including Motorola, Nortel, Hitachi, Texas Instruments and LG – demonstrates its attractiveness to the sector.

Source: Cellular-News, IT Pro | Photo credit: JupiterImages