Pajama Entrepreneur

The launch of the TGV high speed train service to the eastern part of France and into Germany (Paris-Strasbourg-Frankfurt) is expected to cause property values to rise in these rural areas, according to Le Monde. This is not surprising. If there’s a TGV station close by, the region attracts people who want to buy a second home that they can go to on weekends, or where they can work for longer periods of time. In the Provence, real estate ads even tell you how far it is (in minutes) to the closest TGV station.

The same is happening with high speed broadband. If you are looking to rent an apartment in Buenos Aires for a short term stay, the ones that have high speed broadband advertise it and even tell you how fast the connection is. Real estate ads in many rural areas of France also indicate whether or not there is broadband and if so, whether it’s fiber. Houses that have a broadband connection are sold for 5000 to 10,000 EUR more than those without one, according to a person I spoke to at the EU rural broadband conference.