The European Commission (EC) Wed. formally launched a wide-rangin...
The European Commission (EC) Wed. formally launched a wide-ranging policy and regulatory strategy aimed at sparking jobs, economic growth and greater use of information and communication technologies (ICT). I2010 is a major component of the EC goal of making…
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Europe the world’s most competitive digital economy by 2010. The initiative includes: (1) Creating a modern, market- oriented regulatory framework for information society and media markets. (2) Promoting more R&D to drive digital convergence. (3) Fostering an inclusive e-society. With broadband available to more than 85% of residents of the original 15 European Union (EU) nations, takeup is beginning to catch up to the U.S., Japan and other countries, the EC said. But the EU lags far behind its competitors in network speed. In April 2004, Japan had 15.4 million broadband subscribers, nearly 10% of whom were connected via fiber with downlink rates of up to 26 Mbps. In the EU, there were 40 million subscribers but few connections above 3 Mbps. “This disadvantage could seriously delay the introduction of new services here,” the EC said. European ICT R&D investment is also far behind that of its competitors (18% of the total R&D budget compared to more than 30% in the U.S. and other countries). The EU has earmarked 1.8 billion ($2.2 billion) annually for research in areas such as fixed and mobile communications and high-quality audiovisual content. An additional 802 million ($980 million) will promote takeup of promising ICT applications. To create a more inclusive e-society, i2010 will focus on digital libraries, using ICT to care for older people, and developing cars that automatically call emergency numbers after a crash and are equipped with short-range anti-crash radar. Incumbent telcos said they fully support the new initiative. One of its key challenges, however, will be to craft policies that continue to foster competition while creating incentives to innovate in next generation networks, said European Telecom Network Operators’ Assn. Dir. Michael Bartholomew. I2010 must provide for a comprehensive review of current sector-specific rules to “reflect recent and prospective market realities,” he said. Alternative telcos also applauded the new initiative, but warned that convergence will be successful only if the various converging sectors are competitive. “Regrettably, that is far from being the case from the telecom side where, despite the market being fully opened in 1998, effective competition is still far from sustainably established in many sectors,” the European Competitive Telecom Assn. said.