Brussels, 02 Jun 2005

Take-up of high-speed 'broadband' Internet connections is growing fast, according to new figures released on 1 June by Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding.

There are now 40 million broadband lines in the EU, a 70 per cent increase on last year, says Ms Reding, who puts this surge down to competition among market players to provide consumers with faster, lower priced Internet access.

Following this trend, the Commission has tabled a five-year strategy called 'i2010: European Information Society 2010' aimed at boosting jobs and growth in the information society and media industries, as well as stimulating the digital economy.

'For many years, experts have been talking about digital convergence of communication networks, media content and devices,' said Ms Reding. 'Today, we see digital convergence actually happening. Voice over IP, Web TV, online music, movies on mobile telephones - all this is now reality. To enhance investment in this promising sector of the economy, we must provide a coherent regulatory framework for Europe's digital economy that is market-oriented, flexible and future-proof. And we must focus our research spending on key information and communication technologies, such as nanoelectronics.'

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Although 45 000 high-speed Internet access lines are being installed daily in homes and offices across the EU-25, spending on information and communication technology (ICT) still lags behind that of the US and Japan.

'If Europe does not seize the initiative, then others will do,' said Ms Reding at a press conference on 1 June, stating that the Commission is pressing for an 80 per cent increase in investment in ICT from 2007, even if that means cutting back on the EU's spending in other areas.

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i2010, which is the first new Commission initiative to be adopted under the EU's renewed Lisbon strategy, will be financed by the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP), which will provide 1.8 billion euro and 802 million respectively to boost innovation from ICT use.

i2010 is built on three pillars: bringing, for the first time, all regulatory instruments of digital, audiovisual and electronic communication to create an open, market-oriented, regulatory framework for the digital economy; increasing EU investment in research in ICT technologies; and promoting an inclusive European information society.

In the context of the first pillar, Ms Reding stressed that 'by 2010 we want to have 50 per cent of all EU households connected to high-speed broadband networks with a performance of at least ten Megabits per second.'

Turning to the second pillar, Ms Reding noted that the US and Japan invest more than one third of their total private and public research spending in ICT, while Europe is currently at about 20 per cent.

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'This is why in i2010, I propose to increase the EU research spending by 80 per cent as from 2007,' she explained. 'One euro invested in the FP [framework programme] yields a net gain of seven euro. This shows that our research spending has an excellent return on investment! Industrialists from all over Europe, large and small, all agree with me on this. And they are eager to be part of our European technology platforms, for example those on nanoelectronics, on embedded systems and on mobile communications. These are the fields where Europe's technology is in the lead, could be in the lead, or should remain in the lead,' Ms Reding added.

Concluding on the third pillar, which calls for 'inclusion, better services for citizens and quality of life', the Commissioner said that i2010 proposes three ICT flagships initiatives: how ICT can help care for the elderly at home; intelligent vehicles that are smarter, safer and cleaner and digital libraries making multimedia and multilingual European culture available to all by 2007.

Welcoming the i2010 initiative, Michael Bartholomew, the director of ETNO - the association of European telecommunications network operators - stated: 'One of the main challenges of the initiative will be to develop a set of policies that continue to foster competition whilst at the same time creating incentives to innovate in the networks and technologies underpinning tomorrow's services. It is crucial that the i2010 initiative provides an enabling framework for a comprehensive review of the current sector specific rules in order to reflect recent and prospective market realities.' To access the full i2010 strategy, please click here

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