EU Publishes 'Digital Agenda' Five-Year Plan for IT

Coverage Type: 

On Wednesday, the European Commission announced its Digital Agenda, a five-year plan that will set the pace for telecommunications in Europe.

The plan includes measures to boost legal music downloads, speed up broadband adoption and set up a rapid response system for cyber-attacks, the Commission said. The agenda focuses on seven areas: creating a digital single market, interoperability, Internet trust and security, broadband, investment in research and development, enhancing digital literacy skills and inclusion, and using ICT to combat problems such as climate change. By 2013, the plan aims for all Europeans should have access to broadband and by 2020 at least 50 percent of European households should subscribe to Internet access above 100 Mbps. However, the Agenda includes few details of how that will be achieved. Later this year, the Commission will present a common framework for how it expects the goal to be realized, including how to attract investment capital with backing from the European Investment Bank. The agenda also calls for an increased use of standards and interoperability in government procurement of IT, including proposing legal measures to reform the rules on the implementation of standards. The Commission also plans to address situations in which standards do not help because significant market players do not support them.


EU Publishes 'Digital Agenda' Five-Year Plan for IT