Europe and Rural BroadbandPresented By Pawel Radziulis

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

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

Broadband take-up by technology(EU 15 – July 2004)

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5

10

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25

30

35

July 02 January 03 July 03 January 04 July 04

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Total broadband

DSL

Cable

Other technologies

Source: European Electronic Communications Regulation and Markets 2004 Reports

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

Growth in Penetration/Coverage ratesJune 2003 - 2004

Figure 1.3: Penetration/Coverage Ratios June 2003-2004

0,0%

1,0%

2,0%

3,0%

4,0%

5,0%

6,0%

7,0%

8,0%

9,0%

National Urban Suburban Rural

per

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June 2003

June 2004

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?

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.”

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

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

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

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.

Contacts – project leader

• Dr John O’FlahertyMAC – National Microelectronics Application CentreLonsdale Road, the National Technological Park

Limerick, IrelandTel: +353 61 334699Fax: +353 61 338500Email: j.oflaherty@mac.iewww.a-bard.org

Contacts - Poland

• Pawel RadziulisITTI Ltd. – Institute of Telecommunication and

Information Technologiesul. Palacza 91A, 60-273 Poznan, PolandTel: +48 61 8610073Fax: +48 61 8610579Email: pawel.radziulis@itti.com.plwww.itti.com.pl

Contacts – Czech Republic

• Karel CharvatCeske Centrum Pro Strategicka StudiaFrantiska Krizka 2117 000, Praha 7, Czech RepublicTel: +420 60461732Fax: +420 281973501Email: ccss@ccss.cz

Thank you for yours attention.