Only Connect: How Community Networks Put Romania Online

While many of the early community networks like Tănase's were absorbed into larger, private internet providers, they still play a significant role in the country, connecting smaller villages and increasingly, even in cities.

"People want affordable, reliable internet, and neighbourhood networks can provide that," said Tănase, 37, who recently set up a network in a village 30 km (18.64 miles) from Bucharest.

"Larger internet companies dominate now, but the foundation was laid by neighbourhood networks which still fill the gap in remote regions and even larger cities," Tănase, who works for a private tech firm, said.

Community networks are built, managed and used by local communities, typically in remote or sparsely populated areas that are unattractive to mainstream internet service providers.

In Romania, these small networks covering just a few blocks of several hundred customers each, formed the backbone of the nation's internet infrastructure.

Today, almost nine in ten Romanian households have internet access according to the European Union's statistics agency.

More than 20 years since their initial appearance, community networks are once again popular in Romanian villages, as well as in its cities.

Andrei Cosmin, a 23-year-old marketing executive in Obor, a western borough of Bucharest, said he used one, and knew of many community networks in his neighbourhood.

"They work without problem. They are reliable and cheap, and these community networks get the job done," he said.

There are over 100 community networks of varying sizes in Bucharest - from those with a few dozen subscribers, to those with several thousand subscribers, said Adrian Rapa, owner of TenPro Network, a community network in the city....