Broadband internet access in rural areas of Slovakia

Broadband internet access in rural areas of Slovakia WSIS Forum 2010

The M a p o f European Union Slovakia quick facts (2009): • capital: Bratislava • language: Slovak • population: 5 416 958 • pop. density: 110, 2 /km² • area: 49 035 km² • GDP: $89. 33 billion • GDP per capita: $21, 200 • currency: Euro • national symbol:

Level of rurality in Slovakia

Level of rurality and unemployement rate are related Registered unemployement rate in the districts of the Slovak Republic Registered unemployement rate at district level in % Source: Statistical office

Stagnant regions and rural settlement in Slovakia • high rate of settlement disintegration in the SR • villages up to 1 000 inhabitants create 67 % of the overall number of 2 891 villages in the SR • the portion of the inhabitants in the rural settlements is 44, 5 % • stagnant regions in the SR are characteristic with rural settlement and small villages

Development of the rural settlement by means of broadband internet access Internet technologies represent a half of the productivity growth today therefore we can´t let our rural areas be deprived of the growth possibilities in the times of economic crisis

Countryside and broadband internet access in Slovakia • geographical digital gap • striking difference between the east and the west of the SR • striking difference between municipal and rural areas • inaccessibility of the broadband internet in a disintegrated settlement • inaccessibility of the broadband internet is a disadvantage for the regions in a faster economic and social development

Support of the broadband internet access from the EU structural funds One of the solutions how to help the stagnant regions and rural areas in Slovakia is the implementation of the Operational programme Informatisation of the society and particularly of the priority axis 3 „Increasing broadband accessibility“.

Operational programme informatisation of the society – broadband support We processed feasibility study before starting to implement the operational programme • the feasibility study surveys the broadband infrastructure in detail • identifies the regions and the villages without the broadband access • identifies the regions and the villages according to the particular technologies of the broadband access

Operational programme informatisation of the society – broadband support The study results proved the need of an eminent space differentiation of aid in the broadband support • 27 % of the villages has no possibility of the broadband access • it concerns 1515 villages inhabited by 850 000 people • all of these villages have a rural character

„White spots“ at the level of NUTS II White spots N u m b e r Self-administration region of Bratislava The western Slovakia The central Slovakia The eastern Slovakia

Regional division of the villages without the broadband NUTS II Self-admininstration region of Bratislava Number of villages inhabitants which are in the white spots villages 10 16 913 The western Slovakia 303 204 078 The central Slovakia 516 281 988 The eastern Slovakia 686 347 390 1515 850 369 Altogether

Villages with no broadband access are exclusively in a countryside Common local offices (CLO) and the referential villages with the marked villages with no broadband internet acces. Without a possibility of cable or radio connection through x DSL, CATV, FTTx or Wi. Max (Wi. Fi yes) Legend Reference territories (CLO) and their sites Villages with no internet access Villages without inclusion to CLO Updated 30. 03. 2009

Securing of the broadband accessibility for the particular categories of the geographical areas from the resources of the Operational programme informatisation of the society • realizing interventions in the white spots are the highest priority • interventions in the grey spots are recommended to be realized after a detailed survey • Interventions are not recommended to be realized in the black spots

Character of the projects at building the broadband access • demand-oriented projects • national projects

Demand-oriented projects • building of infrastructure of the access nets for the villages qualifying for white and grey spots and the internal infrastructure between the villages in the existent region • building of a regional connector of the existent region to a higher communication layer is not financed from the programme resources within the demand-oriented projects

National projects • connection building of microregions (clusters) to a higher communication layer (i. e. connection building of a reference village of a microregion to a higher communication layer) • building of other regional nets (i. e. internal infrastructure) in the particular clusters is based on an assumption of an evoked commercial financing of these investments

National projects • regional nets will be built in the reference villages by means of local optical cables (LOC) • LOC lengths will be determined from the centres of the reference villages to the assigned DBTO from the side of telecommunication operators for the correspondent clusters • the overall number of the proposed clusters is 612 • number of villages in the particular clusters spans from one village to 17 villages

Examples of the justified activities for the broadband support • Building of the regional broadband nets • building and development of the optical access broadband nets • building and development of the solid wireless access broadband nets • Technological modification of appropriate existing metallic access nets

Rural settlement will be regarded in evaluative criteria at a project selection • Projects will be implemented in economically stagnant regions • Projects will be implemented in regions in which there is no possibility of the broadband access

Output indicators of the Operational programme informatisation of the society • Number of newly connected households to the broadband internet / demand projects – 30 000 • Number of newly connected inhabitants to the broadband internet / demand projects – 105 000 • Number of inhabitants potentially accessible with the contribution of national projects – 300 000 • Number of inhabitants potentially accessible with the contribution of OPIS PO 3 altogether – 650 000

Selected impacts of the realization of the Operational programme informatisation of the society on rural inhabitants • Cost decrease for people (post-office, travel expenses and so on) • Founding new business activities (tourism and so on) • Remote work • Education • Improving medical care • Making communication with banks, offices and so on faster

Thank you for your attention

Ivan. istvanffy@vlada. gov. sk +421 -2 -57295501 Slovakia www. opis. gov. sk