1. The road to becoming a rural broadband provider
Koen Salemink and Dirk Strijker
University of Groningen
16th Rural Entrepreneurship Conference
13-15 June 2018
Plymouth, UK

2. Initiative in action

3. New questions Long-term research into rural broadband initiatives
Community initiatives, LAGs
‘ORI’
Officially Recognized Initiative
Rural broadband provider?

4. Changing categories Community initiatives, LAGs Community action?
Officially Recognized Initiative
Rural broadband provider
Community action?
Social entrepreneurship?
Commercial entrepreneurship?
Commercial enterprising?

5. The ‘national’ debate

6. 8 Stages of Rural Broadband
Incentive
Familiarization
Demand inventory
Campaigning
Deman bundling
Tendering and contracting
Construction
Management and maintenance …

9. Concerns regarding initiatives
Durability and sustainability of initiatives
Academic concerns
Impact on wellbeing and liveability
Governmental concerns
Are citizens able to deliver what they promised?
Are they able to do it in the way the government wants them to?

10. Lessons from three cases
Sterk Midden-Drenthe, ECO Oostermoer Verbindt, Coöperatie Steendam
Lessons from three cases

12. From community action…
Rural broadband initiatives fit in the wider debate on citizens’ initiatives
Key persons’ motives for starting the initiative
‘Doing good for the community’
Initially a good fit
‘Community champions’ needed to create ‘community buzz’
Campaigning for rural broadband

13. …to running a business
Funders require accountability and business rationale
Not straightforward
Key persons are not motivated to run a business
‘Doing good for the community’ instead of running a commercial business
Self-reflective leaders
‘Now that we’ve finished the initiative, others should run “the business”’
Exception: Sterk Midden-Drenthe

14. Challenges and Tensions
Successors are hard to find
Technological and financial knowledge
Few volunteers in rural areas
(Potential) Tensions
Goals of initiative – Goals of business
Founders – Successors
Board – Members (cooperative)

15. Concluding remarks Concerns seem valid
Durability and sustainability are under pressure
Government support for sustaining the initiatives seems necessary
National market players not interested
But: problematic relation initiatives – governments
Government: funder, regulator and assessor
Difficult for initiatives to be openly self-reflective
3. Founders of initiatives as ‘necessity entrepreneurs’?
Or: from ‘opportunity social entrepreneurs’ to ‘necessity commercial entrepreneurs’?