One month after the official liberalization of most of the European telecoms market France looks to be lagging behind. It has issued just four full telecoms and telephone service provider licenses – and those only just before the end of last year. Meanwhile, three applications for licenses are awaiting government approval having passed the initial investigation by the French regulator, Autorite de Regulation des Telecommunications (ART) while another 15 additional applications still to be studied by ART. The industry ministry is expected to shortly give the go-ahead to the three other full license applications, which have already been investigated by ART, for Esprit Telecom Group Plc, Colt Telecom Plc and Infotel.
