Support for Broadband rollout

The EU's broadband strategy

Broadband Europe promotes the Commission's strategy on Connectivity for a European Gigabit Society by 2025 as well as the vision set by the Digital Decade for Europe’s digital transformation by 2030 to connect European citizens and businesses with very high-capacity networks, which will enable innovative products, services and applications to all citizens and business across the EU.

This Gigabit Society vision for 2025 relies on three main strategic objectives:

• Gigabit connectivity for all of the main socio-economic drivers;
• uninterrupted 5G coverage for all urban areas and major terrestrial transport paths;
• access to connectivity offering at least 100 Mbps for all European households.

The ambition of the Digital Decade is that by 2030:

• all European households are covered by a Gigabit network;
• all populated areas are covered by 5G.

In addition, the Commission's communication on Shaping Europe's digital future confirms the above 2025 targets and shares a vision of digital society, which is strongly rooted in our common values, and sets three key objectives: technology that works for people, a fair and competitive economy and an open, democratic and sustainable society.

Support for broadband rollout

EU businesses, national, regional and local authorities and project managers working on broadband deployment play a key role in reaching the EU's Connectivity objectives. The EU supports network deployment by offering guidance, facilitating sharing of best practices and informing citizens of network availability in their area. 

Many successful European broadband roll-out projects are awarded through the European Broadband Awards. In addition, a lot of information is available to guide policy makers and businesses through investing in broadband development, finding technological solutions, as well as choosing the right business models, financing tools and measures to reduce the costs of broadband deployment.

The country pages for each Member State provide information on developments in broadband, the national broadband strategies and policies, financial instruments, major projects, links to publications and contact information of responsible authorities. The Broadband Competence Offices (BCOs) network informs citizens and businesses about broadband developments in their regions and countries, while it brings together experts to discuss and share technical support for broadband deployment to local and regional authorities.

Rural and remote areas are a particular challenge for attracting investment in broadband networks. The Broadband Handbook for rural and remote areas helps policy makers and broadband project managers to rollout high-speed networks in challenging areas.