Broadband deployment in rural and non-competitive areas: The European perspective

Rolling out broadband access networks in rural or scarcely populated areas means a significant investment challenge for network operators. Different access technologies have different cost levels and bandwidth capabilities; however, for sufficiently low population densities, all technical solutions are expensive. Another problem is the lack of demand because of low-income levels in parts of rural Europe. This paper gives a view on cost levels and necessary subsidisation from for example government and local authorities for broadband access deployment in different types of rural areas in Europe. A number of generic areas representative for Nordic, large central European as well as South-European countries have been defined for techno-economic evaluations. These areas are characterised by densities, clustering, available infrastructure as well as income levels and purchase power. ADSL, satellite and digital terrestrial broadcast networks have been considered. The study is based on work carried out in the EU IST project TONIC1.