Broadband Access - Monaco Hits A Hundred Per Cent

Northern Europe's top tax haven Monaco is known throughout the world as a country that has it all - glamour, money, security, the most famous casino in the world and more millionaires per thousand of population than anywhere else.

There's also the fact that Monaco real estate is the highest priced in the world, frequent comfortable bus transport is just a Euro a journey, and has the best Grand Prix in the world too, run each May around the streets of Monte Carlo.

But not content with style and tradition, Monaco has just been named as the country with the best broadband for her people in the world, showing that the tax haven is not just moving with the times, but welcoming new technology and embracing the new opportunities it affords.

Over 40 per cent of Monaco households have and use broadband, while broadband is available to every property in the Principality - the second smallest country in the world after the Vatican.

Part of the reason for the hundred per cent coverage of broadband in Monaco could well be because of her size - just a square mile. There are few houses in Monaco, with nearly everyone living in an apartment building, which means in simple terms making broadband to all is inexpensive compared to rural areas with remote farmhouses and communities with a sparse population, where installation of broadband would be expensive and probably done at a loss if undertaken by a private company with no government subsidy.

But the ease of installation of broadband in somewhere like Monaco shouldn't necessarily be seen as why there's a hundred per cent availability for her citizens - while steeped in tradition Monaco under the leadership of Prince Albert is one of the world's most forward thinking countries, and welcoming new technology is part of that outlook.

An example of Monaco's forward thinking is that there is a first class bus service in the Principality that runs on time and regularly, cutting down the number of people who need to drive to work or for the shops. And in a country where's there a higher density of millionaires than anyone else it isn't expensive - one Euro.

And when it comes to the environment, low cost bus fares to encourage people out of cars onto public transport isn't the only environmental policy being pursued - Prince Albert has visited both the North and South Poles to highlight global warming, and in meetings with other world leaders puts the environment and climate change at the top of the agenda.

The oceans have always been important to the Grimaldi family who have ruled Monaco for centuries, and Prince Albert is no exception when it comes to protecting the seas. Blue fin tuna has been voluntarily taken off the menu by all the restaurants and hotels in Monaco.

So Monaco is able to mix a concern and real action on the environment with a financial environment where the Monaco banks are sought after by the world's wealthy, is a mecca for gamblers with the world famous casino, broadband for everyone, and one of the greatest sporting spectacles in the world at each May's Monaco Grand Prix - preparations are already underway for example for the 2011 Monaco Grand Prix

In a recent poll of British sports fans, the Monaco Grand Prix was voted the top sporting event outside the UK. The event had 18 percent of the vote, beating both the Olympics and the famed Barcelona event at Camp Nou stadium. Formula One established itself formally on the international race circuit in 1946. The first Monaco Grand Prix was ran in 1948. It was won by Nino Farina, the future world champion, driving a Maserati.

And just as the Monaco Grand Prix is world class, when it comes to broadband and new technology it's number one in the world for individuals and businesses alike.