Europe and Rural Broadband

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Europe and Rural Broadband
Presented By Pawel Radziulis
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Project summary

• Analysing Broadband Access for Rural Development
  (A-BARD) is Coordination Action to research rural
  broadband provision and use, as part of the
  Scientific Support to Policies (SSP) in the EU
  Sixth Framework Programme
• Conducted by partners from six European
  countries Ireland, Czech Republic, Poland,
  Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom

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Broadband today

• Remarkable broadband growth in the past year
• EU 25 29,6 mln broadband access lines (July
  2004)
• EU 10 below 1 mln
• Wireline solutions (DSL, cable modem) dominate in
  the short/medium term, but wireless (WiFi,
  satellite, 3G, etc.) is increasing
• Broadband is a very dynamic area, with
  technology, applications and services moving very
  fast

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Broadband take-up by technology(EU 15 July
2004)
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Rural area - today

• 25-40 of the European population lives outside
  major cities and towns
• New technologies and infrastructures for advanced
  communications introduced mainly in towns and
  cities (greater unity)
• Rural areas will need comparable information
  technology, telecommunications and broadcasting
  infrastructures to urban centres if they are to
  compete
• Digital divide will increase if rural areas will
  continue to lag behind urban areas

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Growth in Penetration/Coverage ratesJune 2003 -
2004
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Key questions to be answered

• What applications and services exist, what is
  emerging, how, when and who should implement the
  solutions?
• When will they be accessible and affordable in
  rural areas?
• What socio-economic aspects need to be considered
  to ensure that meaningful applications and
  services development and implementation takes
  place in rural areas?

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The vision of A-BARD project

• To create a European Technology Platform
  involving stakeholders of the whole eRural value
  chain, in order to achieve the objectives fixed
  by the Lisbon Strategy and eEurope initiative.

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What we want to do

• From January 2005 to December 2006
• Continuously identify views on the issues and
  barriers to widespread broadband provision and
  the extent to which broadband can act as external
  driver of change in rural economies

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To provide answers to key questions the project
will

• Monitor and assess relevance of applications of
  IT and broadband projects in the rural domain
• Quantify and typify rural areas - rural areas
  differ widely as do their specific IT needs
• Undertake detailed case studies, identify good
  practice, convene local workshops
• Disseminate findings widely, and coordinate with
  other relevant EU projects and initiatives
• Prepare policy recommendations that are driven by
  rural needs

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Specifically the research aims to

• Focus and enhance awareness and understanding of
  the benefits of mobile applications and services
  deployment in rural areas
• Identify the institutional and policy frameworks
  that are delaying roll-out
• Identify areas where further RTD is needed to
  provide universal solutions
• Identify best practice, guideline and toolkits as
  aids to widespread deployment
• Facilitate the exchange of experience and best
  practice to rural stakeholders and interests

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Dissemination target groups

• Users (actual or potential) of broadband
  services, applications and technologies in rural
  areas, local public and private sectors actors
  involved in the implementation of broadband in
  those areas
• Local, national and European policy makers
• Fellow EU broadband projects and other European
  networks and clusters.

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Contacts project leader

• Dr John OFlaherty
• MAC National Microelectronics Application
  Centre
• Lonsdale Road, the National Technological Park
  Limerick, Ireland
• Tel [phone]
• Fax [phone]
• Email j.oflaherty_at_mac.ie
• www.a-bard.org

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Contacts - Poland

• Pawel Radziulis
• ITTI Ltd. Institute of Telecommunication and
  Information Technologies
• ul. Palacza 91A,
• 60-273 Poznan, Poland
• Tel [phone]
• Fax [phone]
• Email pawel.radziulis_at_itti.com.pl
• www.itti.com.pl

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Contacts Czech Republic

• Karel Charvat
• Ceske Centrum Pro Strategicka Studia
• Frantiska Krizka 21
• 17 000, Praha 7, Czech Republic
• Tel [phone]
• Fax [phone]
• Email ccss_at_ccss.cz

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Thank you for yours attention.