It’s my dream to get Every European Digital. And that means everyone needs to be covered by fast broadband connections.
The economic benefits are clear: increasing broadband penetration by just 10 percentage points can boost GDP by 0.9 – 1.5%. But we face problems in delivering new networks: insufficient investment, problems in accessing capital, and a weak business case for operators to roll out everywhere. And we also face difficulty in making online public services available across Europe.
So the European Commission has today proposed a boost which could leverage total broadband investment between €50 and €100 billion, and will also provide funding for pan-European digital public services.
This would come from the EU’s new Connecting Europe Facility which we put forward today. €9.2 billion euros of the Facility would be dedicated to digital infrastructure.
At least 7 billion of this would be for broadband networks – particularly in areas less attractive to the market, like rural and isolated regions. The funding, primarily through equity, debt, or guarantees, would help to increase credibility, and lower the risk, of broadband projects. And so it would leverage other public and private funds, so that the total benefit as a result of the EU’s action could be in the range €50-100 billion. This is a substantial proportion of the investment we need to achieve our targets and get every European with fast broadband coverage by 2020.
The remaining part of the 9.2 billion would be spent – mainly using grants – on building pan-European digital public services. Many member states are bringing new public services online. But to get the most benefit, we need to build infrastructure which stretches across borders, and we need interoperability so that different countries’ systems can “talk to” each other. This will have great benefits if you are trying to access online systems in another member state – for example, trying to set up a business in another country within the single market.
This is, if agreed, a really good news story. We need to be investing just now in the areas which can drive growth in the long term. So I am calling on the European Parliament and the Council to approve them as a matter of urgency.
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Tags: broadband, broadband investment, connecting europe facility, Digital Agenda, Digital Agenda for Europe, EU budget, European Commission, funding, internet, Kroes, Neelie Kroes, Neelie Kroes NGA
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B4RN could do exactly what you are proposing. Our business plan proves that if communities want to invest their time and energy they too can have gigabit connectivity at an affordable price. Check out our website and see for yourself. If we wait for governments to sort it out it will be too late.
We have to empower people to help themselves, and doing so will drive innovation, create new jobs and regenerate the rural economy. It will also drive take up and stimulate market forces to deliver true next generation access.
chris