The Network Society - University of Massachusetts Amherst

376 The Network Society
Promoting ICT in Europe
The importance of ICT for economic and societal progress is wellrecognised
in European policies. The European approach is built on 3
pillars:
• First, the new EU regulatory framework enhances competition
and provides a predictable legal environment.
• Second, research and development. More than 4 billion
between 2002 and 2006 will be used for ICT related research.
• Third, we are taking action to promote the use of new services and
technology in areas such as eGovernment, eLearning and
eHealth.
The eEurope 2005 Action Plan was based on an interplay between
promoting a secure broadband infrastructure and promoting more
attractive content, services and applications in eGovernment, eHealth,
eLearning as well as eBusiness. This can lead to a virtuous cycle and
overcome the chicken-and-egg dilemma, that is, the situation where
better content is waiting for faster Internet and vice-versa.
Broadband is one of the most important parts of eEurope. Beyond
its impact on the growth of the sector, it ensures the appropriate infrastructure
for the delivery of those interactive services necessary for the
re-organisation of working and production processes.
The rapid growth of broadband connections over the last two years
is encouraging, and ADSL is the fastest growing way of accessing
broadband. There are clearly over 30 million connections in the
European Union and the growth continues.
Several European countries are now ahead of the US, although well
behind Asian tigers such as Korea. To sustain growth, Member States
have been putting national broadband strategies in place. These
strategies consider action on both sides of the market.
On the supply side, two main issues stand out.
• First, competition in the broadband market is still weak. The
EU’s new regulatory framework is the tool to address this
issue.The challenge is to deliver a predictable legal environ-