EU pushes for public funding for broadband in the wilds

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 16 Dec 2003 at 17:21

In a speech today at the eEurope Workshop on broadband regional and local initiatives, Erkki Liikanen, commissioner for Enterprise and the Information Society, stressed that public sector intervention has an important role to play in getting broadband access to the more remote areas of the EU.

'Broadband access is an essential component of the European strategy for growth. And this is why I expect member states and regions to do their utmost to ensure widespread availability of broadband infrastructure,' he said.

He predicted that while at least half of Internet connections in the EU will be broadband by 2005, economics will ensure that some 20 to 25 per cent of the EU population will be without broadband access for the near- to mid-term.

But he said that structural funds are available for the provision of infrastructure that will extend to the reach of broadband, as long as the equipment can be utilised by all operators and service providers, with an eye to promoting rather than distorting competition.

He added that the development of public services is also essential both as a cost-saving exercise and as a way of making Internet access an essential part of life for the EU citizen: 'Development of e-government services can transform the way the public administration works. E-government services enhance the participation of citizens in public life, change the nature of the services offered, and potentially provide efficiencies to the public administration.'

And he warned that extending broadband coverage is essential to drive productivity if we are to keep up with the US.

In the UK, the Government has traditionally stood behind a market-driven development of broadband services, although we are now seeing initiatives such as the creation of Regional Aggregation Bodies to bulk buy broadband services for the public sector, thus making far flung exchanges more econonomically viable from which to offer broadband.