Broadband

Greece secured EU regulatory approval on Wednesday for a 300-million-euro ($334.4 million) scheme to roll out an ultrafast broadband network across the country.

The project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and private investors.

The Digital Policy Ministry announced a tender for the implementation of a project for ultrafast broadband infrastructure on Wednesday. The development of the UFBB network will be implemented through a public-private partnership (PPP) and its budget amounts to 700 million euros, plus value-added tax.

The telecoms regulator is increasing charges for conventional ADSL internet connections and reducing those that rely on optical fibers (VDSL and FTTx) in an effort to persuade web users in Greece to move toward the latter.

The average speed of internet connections in Greece has increased since last year but is still well below what is advertised, data from the Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT) have shown.

The Ministry of Agriculture will present the first strategy for the digitization of agriculture in Bulgaria, reported Econ.bg

By 2020, the European budget will allocate more than EUR 100 million to this end in the Community.

The market of new-generation fixed-line broadband internet connections has finally started moving in Greece.

According to the statistics of the National Commission for Telecommunications and Post (EETT), up to the summer of 2018 some 2,700 connections were installed concerning speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) or more.

The European Commission has approved under European Union state aid rules a voucher scheme to support the take-up in Greece of broadband services with download speeds of at least 100 megabits per second.

The measure will contribute toward reducing the digital divide, while limiting distortions in competition.

A new study from research group M-Laband Cable.co.uk has examined ISPs and 3,303 packages from 195 countries across the world to produce a comparison of fixed line broadband prices, which reveals that the average monthly cost of internet access is cheapest in the Ukraine ( USD), while the UK ranks only 61st (.58), according to ispreview.co.uk

Greece's biggest telecoms operator OTE said on Thursday its second-quarter core profit rose by 1.6 percent, helped by a recovery in its home market.

The company, which is 45 percent owned and managed by Germany's Deutsche Telekom, reported EBITDA of 319 million euros compared to 313.9 million euros in the same quarter a year earlier.

While broadband access in Greece is increasing, the country still lags in the critical sectors of mobile and fiber-optic broadband. As far as the former is concerned, the country ranks 35th among the 37 OECD member countries, while in terms of the latter, it remains stable, coming last in 37th place.