22 March 2006

Broadband must be available to all in order for European business to grow and prosper, argues a new report.

A review of broadband coverage in Europe carried out by the European Commission has been released, demanding the EU uses all its legislative powers to ensure high-speed Internet connections become accessible to its citizens.

Called Bridging the Broadband Gap, the report concluded that broadband Internet was a "prerequisite" for the continued growth of e-business and improving employment levels.

Viviane Reding, the commissioner for Information Society and Media, has also demanded that broadband facilities to be extended beyond the reach of the big cities into all areas of Europe.

To ensure broadband take up is successful, the commission believes EU state aid is vital.

"Deployment of broadband may be hampered by market failures in rural and remote areas," explained competition commissioner Neelie Kroes.

"In such cases, well-targeted state aid may therefore be appropriate, in the form of public private partnerships to support the construction of open networks."

Broadband take-up has generally been fairly rapid across Europe in the last three years.

By the end of 2005 there were almost 60 million broadband lines across Europe.

However, high speed Internet has had some difficulty in reaching more remote and rural areas of the EU, in particular within new member states.

The commission has now announced two key proposals to improve the stretch of broadband. The first is to strengthen national broadband strategies and the other is to improve ways in which examples of best practice can be exchanged between governments and local authorities.

It has been proposed a new website could become the meeting point for the exchange of ideas and policies.

© Adfero Ltd

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