European Week of Regions and Cities, 10 October 2018, Brussels EU action on Broadband European Week of Regions and Cities, 10 October 2018, Brussels Margaret Bateson, DG AGRI-E.4

EU Digital Strategy Targets Part of the Europe 2020 strategy Set in 2010 For 2020: • Fast broadband (above 30Mbps) for 100% of European households. • 50% of European households subscribe for ultra- fast broadband (above 100 Mbps) For 2025: • All European households, rural or urban, have at least 100 Mbps speed, upgradable to Gigabit speed. • Gigabit connectivity for all main socio-economic drivers (schools, transport hubs, main providers of public services)

Next Generation Access (NGA) broadband coverage in the EU, 2010-2017 Rural areas coverage remains challenging: 53% are not covered by any NGA technology 8% of homes are not covered by any fixed network

But why is broadband so important? an increase of 10% in broadband connections in a country could result in 1% increase in GDP per capita per year ; a 10% increase in broadband connections could raise labour productivity by 1.5% over the next five years ; investments in broadband will also help deliver quality education, promote social inclusion and benefit sustainable development of rural and remote regions.

But why is broadband so important?

But why is broadband so important?

EU financial support About 15 billion EUR are devoted by the five ESIF to ICT broadband and e-governance during 2014-2020. Around 6 billion EUR will be invested in high speed broadband roll-out both in rural and urban areas under ERDF and EAFRD. EAFRD will invest almost 1 billion EUR in rolling out broadband to approx. 18 million rural citizens during 2014-2020.

Action plan for rural broadband Launched on 20 November 2017 by Cssers Hogan, Creţu and Gabriel 5-point action plan aiming to bring more broadband in rural areas of the EU Set of actions to be carried out by Commission services At the same time the Commission launched officially the network of the Broadband Competence Offices (BCOs)

BCO Network Beginning of 2017: Only 15 BCOs In 2018: 28 National BCOs and 85 Regional BCOs

Action plan for rural broadband Action 1: Consolidate and expand the BCO Network Action 2: Broadband missions Action 3: Common methodology for planning, reporting and monitoring of broadband investments Action 4: Rural « proof test » Action 5: Update of Commission’s guide to high-speed broadband Complemented by a 6th action: « Rural broadband project framework »

Future Broadband Investments Access to broadband is a pre-condition for a modern CAP and investments into the uptake of new technologies are at the core of the new legislative proposal. Because of the lower density of population, many rural areas in the EU suffer from underinvestment in connectivity, to the detriment of the socio-economic fabric in these areas. To address this challenge, Member States will be able to use a number of interventions: Smart Villages, Leader and local investments may be used and combined to support in particular the actual connectivity of rural households and businesses to high-speed internet, and offer them modern e-services.

Thank you for your attention EU action on broadband Thank you for your attention