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What happens or happened in the french market you are talking about?
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A lot of analysts think the French market is so dominated by France Telecom that it just isn't really very competitive, which has led in turn to mobile telephony being less popular than elsewhere. The penetration rate in France is lower than in other European countries, the use of SMS is significantly lower, prices are higher (and getting a prepaid card is expensive and relatively difficult), and MVNOs are only now making any impact. While these things are changing, they are also changing more slowly than in other countries. Broadly speaking, Orange is a not very innovative state-controlled champion, and SFR and Bouyges don't want to rock the boat. A more competitive situation provided by a fourth network, and perhaps a foreign-owned network in the market, might increase the size of the market while bringing prices down and adding services.
In some ways, the French market is similar to that of the USA (low penetration rate, low prepaid market share, low adoption of SMS, etc.), although the reasons for this there are a little different (mix of technical standards, lack of caller-pays system, poor advertising, focus on business customers).
(FWIW, I realize there is a "cultural differences" argument, too, but I don't believe it; if anything, the French are more like the mobile-loving Italians in temperament than, say, the often technophobic Germans, but guess who sends far more text messages
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