January 17, 2006 Paris, France -- According to a press release, before summer 2006, France Telecom will be testing a FTTH offering in six districts in Paris and six cities in the Hauts-de-Seine region, covering thousands of households.

The operator says it has built up laboratory expertise in FTTH technology over the last several years; the aim of the pilot program is to pave the way for operational expertise. The operator says the large-scale experiment will validate the conditions for FTTH service deployment, technical and commercial operations, and related services.

Services to be offered in the pilot program will include HDTV, IP telephony, and high-speed Internet access. At the end of an initial experimental phase, the operator expects to ramp up its pilot programs to cover other regions in France and abroad by 2007.