Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on Connecting Europe at High Speed: National Broadband Strategies
Date: 2004-11-18
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: information society, local authority, telecommunications policy, transmission network

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Official Journal of the European Union

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Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the Communication from the Commission to the
the European Economic and Social Committee and the
Council,

the European Parliament,

Committee of the Regions on Connecting Europe at High Speed: National Broadband Strategies

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

(2005/C 71/13)

Having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the Council the European Parliament, the
European Economic and Social Committee of the Regions on Connecting Europe at high speed: National broad-
band strategies COM(2004) 369 final;

Having regard to the decision of the European Commission of 13 May 2004 to consult it on this subject,
under the first paragraph of Article 265 of the Treaty establishing the European Community;

Having regard to the decision of its Bureau of 20 April 2004 to instruct its Commission for Culture and
Education to draw up an Opinion on the subject;

Having regard to the Lisbon strategy to make the European Union ‘the most competitive and dynamic
knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010, capable of sustainable economic growth, with more and
better jobs and greater social cohesion’;

Having regard to the Barcelona European Council call on the Commission to draw up an eEurope action
plan focusing on ‘the widespread availability and use of broadband networks throughout the Union by
2005 and the development of Internet protocol IPv6 and the security of networks and information,
eGovernment, eLearning, eHealth and eBusiness’ (1);

Having regard to the resulting eEurope 2005 Action Plan adopted in May 2002. Stimulating use and
creating new services were its new central goals endorsed by the Seville European Council (2). The overall
aims are that, by the end of 2005, Europe should have modern online public services (e-government, e-
learning, e-health) and a dynamic e-business environment, based on a widespread availability of broadband
access at competitive prices and a secure information infrastructure;

Having regard to the preliminary draft opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on
Connecting Europe at high speed: recent developments in the sector of electronic communications - COM(2004) 61
final (3);

Having regard to the Communication from the Commission on Interoperable Delivery of Pan-European
eGovernment Services to Public Administrations, Businesses and Citizens (IDABC) COM(2003) 406 final –
2003/0147 (COD);

Having regard to its Opinion on the Evaluation of the IDA programme and a second phase of the IDA
programme (CdR 44/98 fin) (4);

Having regard to its Draft Opinion CdR 257/2004 rev. 2 adopted on 22 September 2004 by its Commis-
sion for Culture and Education (Rapporteur: Mr Tomaž Štebe, Mayor of the Municipality Mengeš (SI/EPP));

(1) Barcelona European Council, Presidency Conclusions, paragraph 40,

http://europa.eu.int/en/Info/eurocouncil/index.htm.

(2) COM(2002) 263 final ‘eEurope 2005 Action Plan: An information society for all.’
(3) R/CESE 880/2004 – TEN 189/2004
(4) OJ C 251 of 10.8.1998, p. 1

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Whereas:

1.

2.

3.

4.

An ambitious high speed connectivity, taking into account equal rights, non-discriminatory and
digital opportunity for a European wide information infrastructure must play the major role in
bringing together the whole of Europe, the EU Member States and all future European applicant
states, i.e. their town and rural municipalities, businesses and citizens;

It is crucial to deploy an effective and modern information infrastructure for new and existing busi-
nesses, modernised public services;

information society opportunities should be among European citizens' rights regarding

Equal
connectivity and services independent of the type of user, social status and location;

Information infrastructure should be understood and managed in the society the same way as the
water and electricity supply;

adopted the following opinion at its 57th plenary session, held on 17-18 November 2004 (Meeting
of 18 November).

1. The Committee of the Regions' Views

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

tions construction - broadband highways in towns and rural
municipalities - and supporting infrastructure eServices devel-
opment should be highly ambitious, taking into account tech-
interests and should be financed
nological and commercial
through local, national and European public funds in the same
way as (national) roads and highways or other basic infrastruc-
tures;

1.1 welcomes the conciseness and clarity of the analysis
and the conclusions made by the Commission in the Commu-
nication ‘Connecting Europe at High Speed: National Broadband
Strategies’ which is strongly related to the previous analysis and
recommendations in ‘Connecting Europe at high speed: recent devel-
opments in the sector of electronic communications’ (5), and the
proposed actions in ‘eEurope 2005 Action Plan: An Update’;

1.2
recognises that the benefits of broadband play a major
role in economies and societies. Past experiences of significant
increases in deployment and take-up of broadband are highly
encouraging. The number of broadband connections doubled
in EU-15 in 2003. However, there is still a gap compared to
the eEurope plan and its targets outside urban centres and insti-
tutions, and particularly in rural and in disadvantaged or less
favoured areas;

1.3
is convinced that the eEurope Action plan update and
EU-25 extended High Speed National Broadband Strategies
should stimulate progress to the most advanced, trusted and
for
immediate European Information Infrastructure
Administrations, Business and Citizens;

(EII)

1.4
requests that strategies and actions concerning the
information infrastructure, especially backbone communica-

1.5
requests that the Commission continues to prosecute
the infringements of silent regulators not acting effectively, or
not acting within a reasonable timeframe, against dominant
networks or services, and whose behaviour
inhibits equal
opportunity provision and effective competition within the
information infrastructure on national and local level;

1.6 welcomes the European Initiative for Growth, endorsed
by the European Council in December 2003, that highlights
the opportunity of using public funds, including the Structural
Funds to ensure widespread availability of broadband as already
proposed in eEurope 2005 (6). New Digital Divide ‘Quick-start
projects’ will accelerate provision of broadband in less favoured
areas where commercial grounds do not apply;

1.7
supports the Commission's suggestions for the Union's
structural funds in support of electronic communications in
rural or disadvantaged urban areas (7);

(6) See COM(2003) 65 final

‘Road to the Knowledge Economy’ and

COM(2003) 690 final ‘A European Initiative for Growth’.

(5) ‘Space: a new European frontier for an expanding union - An action plan
for implementing the European Space Policy’, COM(2003) 673 final and
‘Connecting Europe at high speed: recent developments in the sector of elec-
tronic communications,’ COM(2004) 61 final.

(7) ‘Guidelines on Criteria and Modalities of Implementation of Struc-
tural Funds in Support of Electronic Communications’, SEC(2003)
895
http://europa.eu.int/comm/regional_policy/sources/docoffic/
working/doc/telecom_en.pdf

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1.8
requests that the Commission's information society and
information infrastructure policy promote and support devel-
opments of innovative services and procedures to replace obso-
lete technologies and introduce new competitive and advanced
commercial and public eServices for businesses, citizens and
administrations;

infrastructure

suggests adding to the definition of broadband, as an
1.15
enabling
communication
and high speed
network, the elements of important tools, utilities and mechan-
isms (EII driver services platform) in support of eServices for
on-line, secure and trusted real-time exchange of data;

the Commission's action in addressing
1.9 welcomes
critical
issues that hamper the transfer of good experiences
such as the legal aspects of the process of re-using successful
developments, the ownership of the systems and their relation-
ship with the public tendering procedures, and procedures for
implementing public-private partnerships (8);

1.16
is in favour of added mandatory specifications for
high speed internet/broadband connections such as delay, fault
recovery;

supports the education and encouragement of

1.10
the
general public for new services and technologies; Broadband
should be used to deliver new and better services to the people;

suggests starting a new initiative The Digital Opportu-
1.17
nity Information Technology (DOIT) for all, with special atten-
tion on less developed areas, to deploy the information infra-
structure and support the present or introduce new economic
activities through education, promotion, and information infra-
structure funding;

1.11 welcomes public intervention for construction and
development of a European Information Infrastructure in
favour of Europe's competitive base for commercial and wide-
spread public services. eServices developed with the help of
public funds should play an important complementary role for
commercial investment and ease private initiatives and support
EU companies to compete worldwide;

encourages local authorities

1.18
to design and build
communication cables, underground ducts when (re)con-
structing streets and roads or installing them together with
lights, power
other cabling and communal pipelines (street
cables) as a long term investment;

1.12 welcomes the importance the European Commission
is attributing to the issue of a secure information infrastructure
and the establishment of the European Network and Informa-
tion Security Agency (ENISA);

1.13
is in favour of a (re)definition of broadband according
to an ambitious understanding of the information infrastructure
as outlined in this Opinion. Consequently, existing activities
and programmes (eEurope,
IDA, eTEN,..., and DRM,
IST,
IPR (9)) should be adequately clarified, simplified and redefined
as well as complemented;

local

and the

authorities

encourages

1.19
European
Commission to evaluate the model where a single company (or
local authority or authorities) builds, owns and maintains the
information infrastructure. Multiple service providers would
then be enabled to use the infrastructure on an equal base. The
main aim of this strategy would be to strengthen the competi-
tion of costs and quality of service providers, by giving all of
them the same, non-discriminatory chances of reaching their
customers;

1.20
is in favour of increased competition by: enabling an
easy and fast acquisition of necessary licenses for infrastructure
and frequency ranges;

1.14
thinks that the definition of ‘broadband’ in the report
is a good starting point, namely: ‘... a wide range of technolo-
gies that have been developed to support the delivery of inno-
vative interactive services, equipped with an always-on func-
tionality, providing sufficient bandwidth capacity that evolves
over time, and allowing the simultaneous use of both voice and
data services’;

(8) N.B.: the Commission is preparing a Green Paper on public-private

partnerships in the European Union.

(9) COM(2004) 261 final The Management of Copyright and Related

Rights in the Internal Market.

Is in favour of

standards and basic applications
1.21
(common eServices) with common (compatible) data models
and data attributes, for e.g.: GIS, 3D and VR visualisation tech-
nologies for spatial planning and regeneration / Space, real
estate property and communal
infrastructure management;
distributed and registered public data bases access, update;
public office services at home or at the work place; Traffic
management: congestion, toll, ticket paying with smart non
contact (mobile) IDs;

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1.22
is in favour of more ambitious EII targets for commu-
nications / connectivity / throughput / availability / affordability
of:

a) fibre optic connecting every European final user with
minimal 10 Mbps or more,
two way communication,
except in the cases where economy and optimal communi-
cation (geography, user needs) requests other solutions, e.g.
(high speed) copper wires or fixed wireless access (WFA) /
satellite transmission:

d) wired up community: Tele-metrics, process control, building

and facility management;

is concerned that with most of the traditional ‘tele-
1.25
phony’ copper wire communication is becoming obsolete or
entering into very heavy competition (unbundling of
local
hoops). National governments do not undertake the necessary
restructuring and engage in discriminatory activities with the
consequences of slowing down the implementation of modern
information infrastructure.

25 % - at the end of 2006;

70 % - at the end of 2010;

b) bandwidth and availability to ensure IP telephony for

nomadic users - at the end of 2006;

c) reasonable pricing of monthly broadband connection costs
with 10 Mbps throughput, secure internet and trusted trans-
actions, multimedia IP ‘telephony’, digital TV/Radio (multi-
media) broadcasting (digital rights not in the price) - at the
end of 2006;

1.23
infrastructure (EII) strategies:

is in favour of the following European information

a) on-line, reliable, secure, authentic and trusted exchange of

multimedia data and documents – at the end of 2006;

b) distributed, interoperable, complex, hierarchical data access

and update – at the end of 2007;

2. The Committee of the Regions' recommendations

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

recommends that the Commission enforces the imple-

2.1
mentation of regulations:

a) Supervision and enforcing of a shared infrastructure compe-
tition on a non-discriminatory, equal cost basis for all
operators or providers;

b) NRA (National Regulatory Authority) to allow frequency
selections for FWA and decrease the licence fees for rural or
less favoured areas;

recommends

2.2
the
funding of an EII with the following orientations and priorities:

the Commission supports

that

a) for ducts construction;

b) for services platform development;

c) virtual or simulated environment and real processes access

c) for cabling and networks equipment

in rural and less

and control in real-time – at the end of 2008;

favoured areas;

1.24

is in favour of EII services platform:

d) NRA to decrease the licence fees for less favoured areas;

a) interoperability of certification and verification systems used

in the EU;

b) eMoney/ePay with very affordable transaction and manage-

ment fees;

c) Telemedicine (eHealth), eLearning;

2.3
recommends that the European Commission empha-
sises in the forthcoming document on High Speed Communica-
tion Strategies (EU 25 including the new Candidate countries)
to be issued in October 2004 the importance of ambitious and
far-reaching technological advances in the European Informa-
tion Infrastructure.

Brussels, 18 November 2004.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Peter STRAUB