TELECOMS : EXECUTIVE CONSULTS ON COST OF HIGH-SPEED INTERNET.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on ways of reducing the cost of rolling out high-speed internet(1). Stakeholders will have until 20 July to register their views on the costs associated with civil engineering, which can account for as much as 80% of the total cost of setting up new high-speed internet networks, according to the Commission. The results obtained from the consultation will inform the Commission's work on potential measures to be taken at EU level.

"We need to cut the engineering costs of rolling out broadband networks if we want to spread faster broadband across Europe. We need to test practical ideas on how to cut costs and how to make it easier to access, re-use and share this infrastructure," said the Commissioner in charge of the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, when the consultation was launched, on 27 April.

The Commission is seeking views on 1...