PARIS (WiMAX Day). The Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC) in France has announced that it may acquire shares in WiMAX license holder HDRR Multi-Regions. The CDC is a state-owned financial institution that makes investments on behalf of France’s central, regional and local governments, and is the leading administrator of savings deposits and retirement funds in France. HDRR is an alliance created by the French companies TDF, Axione and LD to own and operate 11 regional licenses for 3.5 GHz WiMAX spectrum that were awarded in July by Arcep, the French telecommunications regulator. The CDC normally invest their funds in established industries and real estate in France, and thus the announcement comes as one of the first major investments in WiMAX by a leading institutional investor. HDRR Multi-Regions wishes to augment their investment in the roll-out of WiMAX services in France with funds from the CDC, and they estimate that nomadic WiMAX technology can penetrate 10% of the general broadband market, and 50% of the SME market for broadband.