We start with category I today: Innovative models of financing, business and investment
UBit – Development of broadband and IT-Infrastructure
In the county of Västra Götaland, the Ubit group has been working since 2008. The members of the UBit group have attended hundreds of meetings in the countryside, brought people and municipalities together. This combination of awareness raising work, cooperation and expertise has made people start local fibre associations in order to apply for funds from the Swedish Rural Development Programme. The investment in the access network is shared between the developer (which is usually a local fibre association owned by the households), the households themselves and the Rural Development Programme. Some 66.000 households have received funds from the Rural Development Programme for installing fibre to their houses. This an example of a bottom up approach with direct link to the citizens, which also guarantees the demand from the beginning of the process.
BürgerBreitbandNetzGesellschaft (BBNG), Broadband with financial citizen participation
In the BBNG project citizens from the whole region participate in the broadband deployment. Neither incumbent nor other providers were willing to establish a network with high bandwidths. Therefore, the BBNG built a region-wide FTTH-network of its own – 3 communities are already connected and 4 communities are currently in the roll-out. The project is privately funded. Everyone can take part and invest as the shareholder – the procedure is transparent and open to individuals, authorities and companies. The open approach of the project is one of the main success factors.
Construction of the Wielkopolska Broadband Network (WBN)
In 2009 the local Parliament of the Wielkopolska Region established the Wielkopolska Broadband Network Inc. company. The company designed, built and operates a fibre-optic network open for all the operators. The financing model was uncommon: an example of public private partnership and a successful mix of managing different financial sources. Private investors were invited and offered the company’s shares in return for financial contributions. As a result, two private companies (INEA S.A. and ASTA-NET) became the shareholders. Contribution from private shareholders and EU funding (ERDF) were combined to build the network.
Further information about the European Broadband Award can be found here: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/european-broadband-award