EUROPE 2020 : EXECUTIVE PLACES BROADBAND AT TOP OF AGENDA.

The former information society and media portfolio was not rebaptised digital agenda' and assigned to former Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes by accident. With its Europe 2020' strategy for economic recovery (adopted on 3 March), the European Commission sets almost a unique objective: to speed up development of broadband telecoms networks while guaranteeing competition between old and new operators.

Throughout the revision of the EU's telecoms rules (the telecoms package'), the former monopolies reproached the Commission for basing its policy on competition alone, to the detriment of incentives for investing in new networks. The European Parliament took a different tack by including certain elements on investment, while retaining those aimed at boosting competition, such as the possibility for a national regulator to split dominant operators into two companies (the network in one and commercial services in the other) in case of anti-competitive practices.

With the economic and financial crisis, the Commission states that the "global information and communication technologies market employs one third of research professionals and is worth 600 billion a year".

EUROPE LOSING GROUND

Yet "Europe is losing ground in terms of broadband penetration," it warns. As a result, broadband is the top priority at both EU and national level "in order to benefit fully from its economic and social advantages (quality of life, greater productivity, new jobs)," assures the Commission.

At EU level, priorities must include:

- the...