Tag: digital divide

Half of the radio spectrum freed by the switchover from analogue to digital should be allocated to mobile and telephone operators by 2010 to provide broadband internet to rural areas, Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding suggested to EU telecommunications ministers gathered in Luxembourg yesterday.

In order to perform, eGovernment services need to be strongly underpinned by citizen trust and government transparency, a study commissioned by DG Information Society has found.

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. 

Widespread access to modern information and communication technologies (internet, TV, telephone) is considered to be a driving factor behind the EU's efforts to become the world's leading knowledge-based economy (Lisbon strategy). However, poverty or lack of basic ICT skills still prevent this ambition from turning into reality, while at the same time effectively barring businesses from potentially highly lucrative markets in the EU-15 as well as in the new member states. Addressing this so-called 'digital divide' could therefore become a key element in the EU's Lisbon strategy for long-term economic growth.

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. 

Despite increasing levels of ICT usage in all regions and all sections of society, the digital divide in Europe still exists, says a new report by Eurostat.

The EU will prioritise the future governance of the internet and financial mechanisms for bridging the digital divide between industrial nations and developing countries. 

The EU should use the Lisbon agenda's mid-term review to "fully exploit the job potential of the knowledge society", says EU employment and social affairs commissioner.

Governments and stakeholders have been invited to comment on a draft Commission document setting out the EU's strategy for information and communication technologies until 2010.

Global ICT companies are called on to team up with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to help close the digital divide in developing countries.