BBC: EU plan to spend billions on boosting broadband speeds

[pampango]

The European Commission hopes fast broadband
will boost the economy just as high speed rail does.

The European Commission is set to propose investing almost €9.2bn (£8bn) in a massive rollout of super-fast broadband infrastructure and services across the European Union.

It aims to get all European households on at least 30 megabits per second (Mbps) by 2020, with half the population enjoying more than 100Mbps, so as to make the continent more competitive and productive.

At least €7bn of the investment would go to building high-speed broadband networks, with the funding mostly in the form of debt instruments and equity.

The remainder of the Commission's funding would be parcelled out in grants for projects that could help create a single European market for broadband-based services such as e-health, cybersecurity and intelligent energy networks.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15320628

Investing in infrastructure (broadband, rail or highway is so 20th century. Come on, Europe, America knows best! Infrastructure is a waste of money compared to cutting taxes and spending the money youself."