Having followed the question in France pretty closely, most of the progress in both broadband and mobile telephony came from mainly one slightly less greedy ant

Having followed the question in France pretty closely, most of the progress in both broadband and mobile telephony came from mainly one slightly less greedy ant later comer: Free Telecom. Before that, it was basically 3 operators with several trials for illegal agreements on prices. Once Free was granted a license, France entered the 21st century and prices fell. Unlimited plans starting appearing. The difference in terms of policy is not huge: the only difference is a slight difference in terms of corruption and outrage. The process in France was clearly corrupt, but a few institutions still do their job and users made it a political issue. Getting that mobile license was a short call and it changed everything.