They\'ve been looking at this idea for a while now. I wouldn\'t count on it happening anytime soon. Besides the fact that the technology has a long way to go, one of the biggest obstacles is going to be the unbelieveable one-time cost of putting it into orbit. It\'s more than just the carbon link that has to be 100 km long, it\'s the platform they have to put at the top, and so forth.
Of course, once any country does it, they will have carte-blanche to put as much stuff into space as they want... the limit won\'t be on getting it up there.. it\'ll be on building it.