The European Commission just announced that the costs of laying down fiber all over Europe as part of the Digital Agenda can be brought down.
The Digital Agenda of Europe sets broadband targets of 100% broadband coverage by 2013 for all Europeans and speeds of 30MBps for all with at least 50% of the European households subscribing to Internet connections above 100MBps by 2020.
Europe bets heavily on this digital future to stimulate its economy and it has a very good argument to defend the ambitious plan to create a digital Europe: for every 10% increase in the broadband penetration the economy grows by 1 to 1.5%.
Vice-president Neelie Kroes just opened a public consultation to lower the infrastructure costs. The EC believes that the plans to get every European household on broadband are delayed by red tape and unnecessary road works which lack coordination.
Companies and governments are invited to participate in an attempt to cut red tape and coordinate engineering. The consultation round will only run for three months so results should be in soon. It´s estimated that the costs can go down by about 20% overall.
Did the efforts in Europe to roll out high speed internet reach you?
Author: Max Huijgen #Europe #Politics #Tech
