EU-Breitbandpolitik[en][fr] 

Internet connectivity is having a profound impact on business and individuals. A move from narrowband to broadband Internet access will have a further big effect on Internet usage, resulting in higher connectivity and enabling new sorts of services. Although competition is driving Internet connection costs down, European Information Society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen has commented that broadband remains generally expensive in the EU, and fast Internet penetration is only 6 percent. Mr Liikanen recently therefore stated that "to be connected to the Internet is not enough, we have to look at the quality of the connection. From now on, broadband will be the key issue". 

The term broadband is often used to describe a wide set of technologies, offering data rates that are very different. Usually a distinction is made between higher bandwidth (services at speeds greater than 384kbits/s), current generation broadband (speeds of 2Mbit/s and over) and next generation broadband (speeds of 10 Mbit/s and over). An average broadband connection is currently said to be 25 times faster than a dial-up connection.

The main issues in the broadband discussion are:

• Preventing a new 'digital divide';
• The role of government versus private sector in making the necessary investments;
• Standardisation, e.g. of cable modems;
• Deregulation, unbundling of the local loop;
• Licensing issues in wireless broadband access;
• Legacy infrastructure;
• Market conditions.

The European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA) called on the Member States to implement divestiture, penalties and more effective regulation to deliver a competitive broadband Europe.

A statement by the European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association (ETNO) argues: 'let the market do its broadband work'. It states that positive market developments are due to competition, and not Internet-specific regulation. New innovative packages should be encouraged -not restrained- by regulation, particularly in the field of bundled offers. ETNO says it is essential to abstain from any intervention regarding retail prices that may either distort competition or block the development of price packages that support the take-up of the Internet. Any extension of regulatory obligations, such as mandatory price-regulated wholesale flat rates, may adversely affect incentives to the development of high-speed access services.

The Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe (UNICE) urge Member States to take appropriate actions to promote the take-up and roll-out of broadband in Europe, with quantitative targets.