Tag: broadband

The UN Broadband Commission for digital development has set four targets related to accessibility, affordability and getting online in order to reach the UN Millennium Development Goals. Among these, universal access to broadband seems to be manageable, but affordability is and will continue to be the bigger problem, says Suvi Lindén.

The European Commission renewed its warning against the “moderate” migration from copper to fibre in telecoms networks, as markets expect EU long-awaited guidelines on how to foster investment in so-called Next Generation Access to ultra-fast Internet. 

The first step to create a new single industry standard for smart homes and grids capable of offering energy savings and health monitoring is set to be made in Tokyo next month, EurActiv has been told.

Europe’s broadband internet coverage is close to 100%, but super-fast connections remain marginal and well behind the EU's official target despite the rhetoric surrounding the benefits of the digital economy.

State aid for broadband in 2010 was more than four times the amount in 2009 and comprised a record total of €1.8 billion in public funds. But scepticism remains as to whether EU funds will inject competition into the high-speed Internet market.

The EU plans to revise rules governing access to the Internet and telephones throughout the bloc. Yesterday (2 March) the European Commission launched a consultation asking whether money for wider broadband coverage should come from the public purse or from industry coffers.

A highly contested set of telecoms rules finally won broad consensus in the European Parliament yesterday (24 November), paving the way for high-speed Internet across Europe. Though some say the final package is not the "alpha or the omega," they concede that it is a step in the right direction.

At a time when Europe's economies find themselves walled in by high budget deficits and unemployment, a recent Microsoft-sponsored study claims that investments in information and communication technologies could make all the difference.

The European Commission is set to ask national telecoms authorities to slash the wholesale fees operators charge one another for mobile calls or text messages (SMS) as a means of supporting investment in optical fibre networks, which underpin the high-speed Internet.

The European Commission yesterday (28 January) proposed to reallocate five billion euro of unspent EU money, mostly to support clean coal projects, offshore wind farms and the deployment of broadband Internet connections in rural areas.

A record number of Europeans watched the Beijing Olympic Games via the Internet, confirming an upward trend that will make it all the more necessary to update networks to satisfy surging demand.

Community efforts to boost citizens' access to the web are paying off, with 40 million more Europeans becoming "regular internet users" last year, according to a new Commission report.

European leaders did not endorse the Commission’s bold goal of connecting almost one in three households to high-speed broadband internet by 2010. Instead EU states are encouraged to “set ambitious national targets”.

As researchers and decision makers gather for the fourth edition of the BroadBand Europe conference in Antwerp, new figures released by Eurostat show a marked increase in the use of broadband technologies for internet connection in Europe.

The widespread introduction of broadband at affordable prices is one of the chief objectives of the EU's i2010 action plan. Broadband technology allows users to access the Internet at high speeds via their telephone lines (DSL), cable, wireless mobile technologies and satellites. Moreover, the deployment of next generation networks, based on optical fibres, is set to put a new range of super-fast Internet services withing everyone's reach .

The deployment of reliable high-speed internet connections even to remote regions is of utmost importance for the growth of businesses, for social inclusion and in order to make public services such as e-government, e-health and or e-learning accessible to all, MEPs have said in a Resolution. 

Mobile phones and high-speed wireless internet are on the way up in European households.

Southeastern European countries are still far from EU standards when it comes to liberalisation of their telecommunications markets, broadband penetration and other parameters of modern information societies, a report finds. 

The Commission has cleared an initiative of the French regulatory authorities that will oblige the country's incumbent telecom operator to give competitors access to internet infrastructure.

Forty five thousand Europeans connected to broadband internet each day in 2004, amounting to a 70% growth in one year, say figures published by the Commission. Forty million EU residents now have broadband access and the take-up will be growing even faster in 2005.

With current prices varying considerably across the EU, the Commission has suggested setting price ceilings on incumbents for providing network access for rival operators reselling broadband internet to business (wholesale leased lines).

eEurope was launched in December 1999 to ensure the EU fully benefits from the changes the Information Society is bringing. eEurope's key objectives are to bringing every citizen, home and school, every business and administration, into the digital age and online. It plans to create a digitally literate Europe, supported by an entrepreneurial culture ready to finance and develop new ideas. eEurope also wants to ensure the whole process is socially inclusive, builds consumer trust and contributes to social cohesion.