The finalists of the European Broadband Awards 2018 have been announced. Broadband expansion projects from all over Europe have applied for one of the prizes awarded annually by the European Commission. An expert jury has selected 15 finalists from the submissions, from which five winners will now be chosen. The winners will be honored at an awards ceremony on November 19 and presented at the “Broadband Day: Mind the Broadband Gap” conference in Brussels on November 20.
The jury of five broadband experts evaluated the project applications and selected the following finalists in the five categories:
Category 1: Innovative financing, business and investment models
- Broadband initiative of the district of Calw, Germany
- Michaelston-y-Fedw Internet Community Interest Company, Great Britain
- Superfast Internet for all households and businesses in the rural region of Noordoostpolder, Netherlands
Category 2: Cost reduction and investment participation in sustainable infrastructure
- Aller Valley, Asturias – FTTH network in a rural region, Spain
- FTTx broadband in the Niederlausitzer Seenland region – Brandenburg, Germany
- Sunne in the network of the future, Sweden
Category 3: Territorial cohesion in rural and peripheral areas
- Croatia’s multi-gigabit islands of Rab and Cres, Croatia
- PEBA Bakenland – Ultra-fast broadband availability in commercial and rural areas, Spain
- Poland is entering the gigabit society, Poland
Category 4: Socio-economic impact and financial viability
- Broadband for “Mand-ø” – Connecting the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Wadden Sea”, Denmark
- EmiliaRomagnaWiFi, Italy
- Support for broadband infrastructure (Phase II) – PRIP2, Lithuania
Category 5: Openness and competition
Denmark, Germany and Spain were the countries with the highest number of applications. Most projects applied in category 3, “Territorial cohesion in rural and peripheral areas”.
The prizes for the winners (one per category) will be awarded on the evening of November 19 by Mariya Gabriel (European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society) and Phil Hogan (Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development).
At the “Broadband Day: Mind the Broadband Gap” conference taking place the following day, the winners will report on their experiences and approaches to project implementation in a panel.
All participating projects are presented on the websites, in the newsletters and in the good practice database of the European Commission, DG CONNECT.
aconium GmbH implements this format and supports the European Commission and the applicants throughout the entire process.
Image: European Broadband Awards 2018
Image credit: aconium GmbH