Telephony, data transmission, France leads the way with technological developments
The time is ripe for radio technologies: 3G+ mobile networks, WiMAX, ZigBee, RFID... In just a few years, mobility has become an essential function demanded by consumers, first for telephony and now for data transmission.
According to the French Association of Mobile Operators (AFOM), players in this continuously innovative sector have already invested almost 33 billion euros in mobile networks as of the end of 2007. The size of the French mobile telephony market reached about 22 billion euros in 2007 and was the source of 100,000 direct and indirect jobs in France.
In the field of Hertzien networks, France has been at the forefront of technological developments for several years now thanks to top-ranking players both in the field of mobile networks (such as UMTS) and wireless networks (the arrival of WiMAX mobile).
France has decisive technological and industrial assets, with key players in the telecom industry. The already significant presence of foreign players which have chosen France to set up industrial or research facilities (Motorola, Nortel, Hitachi, TI, LG, etc.) demonstrates its attractiveness to the sector. In 2007, for example, Invest in France helped the Chinese company Huawei, one of the world’s largest networking and telecommunications equipment suppliers, set up its R&D centre in France.
In the field of mobile networks, France is already preparing for 4G networks. The French company Alcatel-Lucent recently announced with the Japanese company NEC, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona 2008, the creation of a joint company in the field of Long Term Evolution (LTE) infrastructure, which will enable in the year 2011-2012 a speed of almost 100 MB/s compared with approximately 3.6 MB/s for current 3G networks.
On the operator end, France Telecom is investing heavily in research and development, with a budget of 600 million euros, for 4,200 researchers and engineers.
In addition to these industrial resources there are the internationally renowned public laboratories:
- Among the Federation of Grandes Écoles and research bodies, the “Groupe des Ecoles de Télécommunications” (Group of Telecom Schools) plays an internationally unrivalled role in the development and sharing of knowledge in information sciences and technologies.
- The INRIA (Institut National de Recherche en Automatique & Informatique, or National Institute for Research in Automation and IT) dedicates 3,500 personnel to key promising areas within the Information and Communication Technologies (ITC) field.
- Clusters of leading technological companies and training centres devote significant resources to innovative development: Systém@tic in Ile de France, the Brittany cluster Images et Réseaux, and the Solutions Communicantes et Sécurisées (SCS) cluster in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
“Texas Instruments in Sophia-Antipolis illustrates this excellence,” says Philippe Favre, President of the Invest in France Agency. “Texas Instruments has gained from this location half of the international market for mid-to-top-range phones. They have contributed to the development of the SCS competitive cluster in a unique collaboration with the INRIA and soon the ENSI (Ecole nationale Supérieure d’Ingénieurs), also based in Sophia-Antipolis.”
Invest in France Agency (IFA) promotes and facilitates international investment in France. The IFA network operates worldwide. IFA works in partnership with regional development agencies to offer international investors business opportunities and customized services all over France. For more information, please visit www.investinfrance.org. Press contact : [email protected]
