Amidst all the brouhaha over broadband stimulus funding in the US, it’s easy to forget that Europe has its very own economic stimulus package, called the European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP), with an allocation of €1.0 billion to be spent on broadband in rural areas between 2009 and 2013. And last week the first wave of approvals for EERP funding were handed out.
Five countries have amended their rural development plans to take advantage of the extra funding for broadband. They are Austria (€15.0 million), Cyprus (€0.9 million), Finland (€24.6 million), Italy (Toscana and Sardegna regions, together €11.3 million), and the UK (Northern Ireland region, €1.4 million). Grand total: €53.2 million.
Meanwhile, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has approved two loans for the deployment of next-generation access networks using fibre-to-the-home in Portugal. Incumbent telecoms operator Portugal Telecom will receive €100m, and cable TV company ZON Multimedia will receive an identical amount of €100m.
In a statement, the EIB says that “by supporting both the incumbent operator and its chief competitor, the EIB not only contributes to a substantial upgrading of telecom services in the country, but introduces a healthy degree of competition in the Portuguese telecoms market.”
Europe doles out funds for rural broadband
Amidst all the brouhaha over broadband stimulus funding in the US, it’s easy to forget that Europe has its very own economic stimulus package, called the European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP), with an allocation of €1.0 billion to be spent on broadband in rural areas between 2009 and 2013. And last week the first wave of approvals for EERP funding were handed out.
Five countries have amended their rural development plans to take advantage of the extra funding for broadband. They are Austria (€15.0 million), Cyprus (€0.9 million), Finland (€24.6 million), Italy (Toscana and Sardegna regions, together €11.3 million), and the UK (Northern Ireland region, €1.4 million). Grand total: €53.2 million.
Meanwhile, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has approved two loans for the deployment of next-generation access networks using fibre-to-the-home in Portugal. Incumbent telecoms operator Portugal Telecom will receive €100m, and cable TV company ZON Multimedia will receive an identical amount of €100m.
In a statement, the EIB says that “by supporting both the incumbent operator and its chief competitor, the EIB not only contributes to a substantial upgrading of telecom services in the country, but introduces a healthy degree of competition in the Portuguese telecoms market.”