The French government said on Tuesday it would offer low-income households a computer, home training and a high-speed Internet connection for one euro a day for three years to get them on the Web.

Around half of French households have a computer and in 2005 the 60 million-strong country counted 13.3 million Internet subscribers, the government said.

The scheme is aimed at pensioners and the unemployed to encourage them to fill out official forms such as income declarations on the Web and save the government money.

The government said 5.7 million had filled out their tax forms on the Internet this year.

The program will open in the first quarter of 2007 under a public-private partnership contract

Selected households will also be able to take out a loan, backed by the government, to finance the purchase of a computer and also have access to a cheap high-speed Internet connection.