The road towards ‘smart Europe’ – Frost & Sullivan

An intelligent and innovative Europe cannot be built without its backbone: next generation broadband access. European policymakers at all levels – regions, states and the EU as a whole – are conscious of this. This awareness has been transformed in various political initiatives, from the EU Digital Agenda to regional initiatives.

However, there is a substantial gap between Europe and other developed economies, such as South Korea and Japan, in terms of the pervasiveness of next generation broadband access. A renewed effort and commitment is required to bridge the divide, but most importantly, to also stimulate economic growth through broadband infrastructures and services.

There are clear challenges to face – deployment costs, demand uncertainty, and regulatory inefficiencies – but the difficult time that Europe is currently facing requires an exceptional effort in order to drive growth. This effort calls for a more synergic collaboration between the private sector and the public sector in order to accelerate the penetration of next generation broadband access, and transform the urban and rural areas of Europe into a single, unified smart continent.

Financing high speed Broadband – what do you think?

Challenge – we seek to engage with you and gather a broad range of opinion from a range of contributors across Europe, in relation to these 5 broadband investment models described here.

We have provided some examples in each of the discussions to kick things off