ECONOMIC RECOVERY PLAN : A BILLION EURO FOR BROADBAND DEVELOPMENT.

Of the 5 billion budgeted by the European Union to relaunch the European economy, 1 billion will be allocated to investments in broadband networks and more specifically in rural areas, with little or no coverage by telecoms operators. The European Commission presented details of these specific projects on 28 January, at the request of the Council.

The EU funding will be added to money from private investments and public national funding. "Rural areas in certain countries don't even have access to traditional telephone networks," notes the Commission, mentioning Bulgaria and Romania as examples. "In others, the lack of investment and difficult geographical conditions mean that coverage is limited to 50% of rural areas," it continues, giving Greece, Poland and Slovakia as examples. Even some countries with more developed infrastructures have less than 80% coverage. These include the Czech Republic, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia and Lithuania. And while in countries such as France, Germany, Italy and Austria the divide is far less pronounced, it still exists.

Altogether 30% of residents in rural areas do not have access to broadband internet, while figures for Europe as a whole in December 2007 show that 93% of the population had high-speed internet access mainly in densely populated areas(1).

COUNTRIES AND REGIONS WILL DECIDE

The billion euro that the European Commission announced, on 26 November 2008, during its presentation of the EU's global plan in response to the economic and financial crisis, will be mobilised through the EU's Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. "Brussels will not be imposing any projects,"...