Evolution of the EU broadband policy: towards an integrated framework?

Paper in proceeding, 2012

More than two decades, broadband has been recognized in the EU as having great benefits for economic and social development. This recognition is evident in the first EU policy document on the telecommunications market – the 1987 Green Paper – which assumed that harmonization and liberalization through competition mechanisms could be used as tools to bring all these benefits to European citizens. Although the policy emphasized the competition mechanism in the years that followed, many additional instruments were developed and implemented in order to make broadband available to all European citizens. Some of the instruments can be seen in the form of regulatory directives and some in more general policies. All of them make a considerable contribution to the growth of broadband deployment in the EU. However, with globalization, the policy impetus for broadband has shifted towards a means to increase the competitiveness of a nation or region. This changing emphasis, due to globalization and competitiveness, impacts the design of policy instruments. A question can be raised as to which instruments can serve as a new concept for future broadband policy. This paper presents an evolutionary concept for broadband policy in the EU by providing a conceptual framework for integrating the related broadband policy instruments. A timeline of all the instruments and initiatives that are being implemented in the EU is explored. This evolution is analysed to see what kind of future concept is applicable when broadband policy is based on a perspective of globalization, regional competitiveness and sustainability. The analysis addresses how far the existing instruments of the EU can serve a new concept of broadband policy and what the needs are for new policy instruments