Commission backs state funding to close digital divide in Greece
The European Commission has endorsed Greece's €210 million aid package to build broadband networks in the country's remotest areas. Despite rapid growth, broadband has yet to reach some of the EU's less-developed areas. In 2005, broadband was available to only about 60 per cent of businesses and households in the remote and rural areas of the EU15, compared to over 90 per cent in the urban areas. This appears to be the case in Greece, where the country's network providers have so far opted to deploy their services in the urban areas of Athens and Thessaloniki, rather than the remote hilltops and numerous scattered islands where the population is much smaller. The Greek government's broadband initiative aims to bridge this digital divide, by first tackling the supply-side, and funding the provision of broadband access services by network providers to rural areas. Second, the project has the objective of encouraging interest among businesses and households in these communities to start using the services and technologies available to them. Commenting on the package, Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said that she was pleased to endorse public funding for the deployment of broadband networks in under-served regions of Greece. 'To date, this is the most ambitious broadband project notified under the state aid rules. It will allow residential and business customers to reap the full benefits of the knowledge economy. The project is fully in line with the Commission's policy to promote broadband in rural and remote areas and with the state aid rules,' she said.
Countries
Greece