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Newsdesk Public policy Telekom Austria: Broadband is one of the most important economic factors for business in rural areas
Newsdesk Public policy Telekom Austria: Broadband is one of the most important economic factors for business in rural areas 
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| Telekom Austria: Broadband is one of the most important economic factors for business in rural areas |
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| Saturday, 10 July 2004 | |
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2 July, 2004: Information and communication networks are part of the infrastructure that co-determines the economic power and competitiveness of a region. On the occasion of a press conference at Kaninghof in Wieselburg, Telekom Austria CEO, Heinz Sundt, said: "in order to maintain qualified jobs in rural regions one must offer modern and effective communications infrastructure. Modern communications technologies have become a decisive factor for the economic power and competitiveness of a region, because in national and international competition the only regions that can keep up are those at the forefront of technical progress. Here at Kaninghof we see an excellent example of how a company can overcome the limitations of geographic location and successfully operate 'globally', with the help of innovative IT and the latest telecommunications infrastructure." As a country-wide provider of infrastructure, Telekom Austria is responsible for supplying Austria with high-quality data lines, and with these activities helps define Austria as a telecom location. In the past four years Telekom Austria invested a total of €780mn in broadband expansion. The high level of Telekom Austria's investments is significant for investments in infrastructure for the manufacturing industry in Austria. Today, 85% of the households throughout Austria are located in areas provided with ADSL. In Lower Austria alone 44 switching centers were made broadband-capable last year and this year there will be 31 more. Necessary to subsidize expansion for rural regions Telekom Austria's ADSL broadband expansion is conducted according to strict economic priorities. For this reason, in recent years expansion took place in highly populated areas with a greater density of potential broadband users. Thus, rural areas need to catch up today. Telekom Austria has frequently demanded expansion in rural regions. The infrastructure ministry has frequently mentioned the possibility of a subsidy of €10mn from the federal provinces and €30mn from the EU. In light of the €780mn that Telekom Austria already invested, this is naturally a drop in the bucket. Decrease in the digital divide important Besides the growth aspects that are important for rural regions, equal opportunities for all groups of the population must be guaranteed. The danger of a divided society – the digital gap between those who have access to new technologies and those who do not – exists. To close the digital divide, which exists primarily between the urban and rural populations, the EU Commission has passed the action plan 'eEurope 2005'. This action plan has the declared goal of making broadband networks available on a large scale in all EU member countries by 2005, to give each EU citizen the opportunity to take part in the global information society. For this reason Sundt welcomes the activity at Kaninghof, because "…our visions complement each other here and we are jointly implementing a piece of eEurope!" Blanket coverage with high-capacity telecom infrastructure is an important prerequisite so that the "factor work" will increasingly return to rural regions. Telearbeit enables new highly-qualified and better paid occupational chances. It is also for this reason that Telekom Austria is pushing ADSL expansion outside of highly populated areas. Sundt: "as the largest company active in this area we feel it is necessary for us to take responsibility." www.telekom.at |
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