Competition Commissioner open to idea of national broadband subsidies
Competition Commissioner Mario Monti has indicated that, under specific circumstances, Commission rules on state aid may not apply to national subsidies for broadband infrastructure. This is the preliminary conclusion of correspondence between Mr Monti and Jean-Paul Delevoye, French Minister for the Civil Service, Administrative Reform and Town and Country Planning, on the subject of a French broadband initiative. A spokesperson for Mr Monti told CORDIS News: 'If the telecommunications infrastructure that resulted from such an initiative is made available to all operators under the same conditions, then it is unlikely that this would constitute a breach of state aid rules.' The spokesperson stressed, however, that individual schemes would have to be judged on a case-by-case basis on order to give legal certainty to this position. Mr Monti's emerging stance on the issue backs up the position already adopted by Commissioner for Enterprise and the Information Society, Erkki Liikanen. Mr Liikanen has said that he would support subsidies for broadband infrastructure in remote or less favoured regions where private investment is unforthcoming.