Does broadband deployment push firms’ digital transformation? An evaluation of a large scale french policy to deploy ultra fast broadband
Résumé
Can the deployment of ultra fast broadband (UFB) drive firms’ adoption of digital tools? We tackle this question by studying the impact of the French policy « France Très Haut Débit », which led to the progressive deployment of UFB in non-dense areas (representing 43% of the French population). Thanks to large scale annual company surveys, we can track a broad range of digital uses. We find that access to UFB increases firms’ adoption of both basic and advanced digital tools. This effect is heterogeneous: it varies according to firm characteristics, local conditions and the type of UFB deployment. In particular, small companies benefit the most from UFB access. Further, the link between UFB and digitalization is not statistically significant in rural areas.