Francois Paulus

EBlink board member François Paulus is a Paris-based advisor to venture capitalists and investment funds on telecom acquisitions, as well as an angel investor and advisor to innovative companies in the telecom sector. A veteran telecommunications executive and entrepreneur, he joined the French startup LDCOM Networks in 1999, shortly after it was established by the Louis Dreyfus Group following France’s telecom deregulation. During his nine years with the company, LDCOM acquired numerous companies, such as 9Telecom, Club Internet, AOL France and SIRIS. It then merged with fixed-line operator Cegetel to form Neuf Cegetel, which became one of the leading French broadband service providers. By the end 2007, it had a 49,000-kilometer fiber-optic network, and more than 3.2 million active residential customers and 173,000 business sites connected. François served as general manager of Neuf Cegetel’s network division and general manager of its high-speed broadband division, and served for four years on its executive committee. He began his career in 1989 as an independent IT consultant in London before joining a French telecom consulting firm, Pierre Audoin. François is a Telecom engineer and a graduate from INSEAD.