EU plan to spend billions on boosting broadband speeds

By David MeyerBerlin

The European Commission hopes fast broadband will boost the economy just as high speed rail does.

The European Commission is set to propose investing almost €9.2bn (£8bn) in a massive rollout of super-fast broadband infrastructure and services across the European Union.

The plan is partly aimed at stimulating further investment in rural broadband.

It is hoped the initiative will also help to create a single market for digital public services.

The Commission has already set targets for improving the speed of home internet connections across the region.

It aims to get all European households on at least 30 megabits per second (Mbps) by 2020, with half the population enjoying more than 100Mbps, so as to make the continent more competitive and productive.

Economic need

The BBC understands that the EU’s executive body will propose the funding, which would be invested between 2014 and 2020, on Wednesday.

The plan would have to be approved by the European Parliament and the EU’s Council of Ministers if it were to become reality.

“Europe needs these fast broadband networks to allow its economy to become more competitive in the future, and so create more jobs and prosperity,” EU sources said.

“This money would stimulate much greater investment of private and other public money. Each euro [invested by the Commission] would give rise to a further six to 15 euros more.”

At least €7bn of the investment would go to building high-speed broadband networks, with the funding mostly in the form of debt instruments and equity.

The hope is that giving infrastructure projects credibility in this way would encourage the private sector, as well as local and national governments, to invest at least a further €50bn in the rollout.

European Parliament debate on fast broadband from 9 May 2011

The remainder of the Commission’s funding would be parcelled out in grants for projects that could help create a single European market for broadband-based services such as e-health, cybersecurity and intelligent energy networks.

The money would come from a new fund called the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). This proposed fund would also be used for new transport and energy projects, with the Commission and the European Investment Bank absorbing risk and boosting the projects’ credit ratings.

Part of the plan is for the CEF to pressure established telecommunications companies into investing more in their own networks, as they would not be the only ones able to bid for funding.

New players such as water, sewage and electricity utility companies would also be encouraged to enter the broadband game with CEF backing, as would construction firms, cooperatives and public authorities.

Rural boost

A particular objective is to get more money invested in rural broadband. Left to their own devices, telecoms companies often invest less in such areas because they are not as profitable as more densely-populated towns and cities.

While the Commission’s digital agenda is largely about getting citizens on fast connections, it also contains plans to make electronic public services available equally across the continent.

Under the proposals to be unveiled on Wednesday, grants could go to cross-border e-health and electronic procurement services, smart energy networks and coordinated efforts to take down online child pornography.

Other examples of projects that would meet the Commission’s criteria include pan-EU electronic identity schemes, systems that would encourage access to European culture, and multilingual public information services.

The Commission also hopes its plan would immediately create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the construction and telecoms equipment industries, as efforts to install fibre optic cable networks increase with the additional backing.

European funding has already found its way to several fast broadband projects in the UK. Last year the European Regional Development Fund provided £53.5m to aid BT’s next-generation broadband scheme in Cornwall, while £18.5m went to the development of Northern Ireland’s broadband infrastructure, also in collaboration with BT.

Greece unrest: Strike to continue amid austerity vote

Protesters set fires and continued to clash with police on Wednesday evening

Greece is braced for a second day of a general strike and mass protests as parliament takes a final vote on tough new austerity measures.

Running battles between police and some protesters continued overnight in Athens after tens of thousands demonstrated against the cuts.

The measures, including tax hikes and pay cuts, are needed to convince the EU and IMF to continue bailout loans.

Greece is saddled with a huge public debt and an economy in deep recession.

The 48-hour general strike is due to continue on Thursday with workers in virtually every sector of the economy participating.

Air traffic controllers went back to work after a 12-hour stoppage on Wednesday, allowing international and domestic flights to resume.

But civil servants, shopkeepers, dock workers, taxi drivers, doctors, lawyers, teachers, construction workers and others were due to continue the industrial action.

Latest Planned Austerity Measures

• New pay and promotion system covering all 700,000 civil servants
• Further cuts in public sector wages and many bonuses scrapped
• Some 30,000 public sector workers suspended, wages cut to 60% and face lay off after a year
• Wage bargaining suspended
• Monthly pensions above 1,000 euros to be cut 20% above that threshold
• Other cuts in pensions and lump-sum retirement pay
• Tax-free threshold lowered to 5,000 euros a year from 8,000

Parliament is expected to approve the articles of an austerity bill after giving it preliminary approval in a first vote late on Wednesday by a margin of 154-141 of the 300 deputies.

‘Desperation and bitterness’

At least 100,000 people demonstrated against the measures in Athens on Wednesday. Protesters have said they will rally again on Syntagma Square in front of the parliament while the vote takes place.

The bill includes plans for further cuts to pensions and salaries and temporary lay-offs of 30,000 public sector workers.

Some of Prime Minister George Papandreou’s ruling socialist party deputies have threatened not to vote for some of the bill’s articles.

With Greece unable to borrow long term on international bond markets to finance its debt, the EU and IMF have stepped in with two bailout packages.

But they have demanded tough action to cut the deficit, which has angered many in Greece who say the medicine is killing the patient.

“We just can’t take it any more. There is desperation, anger and bitterness,” Athens area union official Nikos Anastasopoulos told Associated Press news agency.

Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos described the choice as between a “difficult situation and a catastrophe”.

“We have to explain to all these indignant people who see their lives changing that what the country is experiencing is not the worst stage of the crisis,” he said.

“It is an anguished and necessary effort to avoid the ultimate, deepest and harshest level of the crisis.”

Greek haircut

There are fears that if the Greek government defaults on its debts it will set off a chain reaction that could engulf banks and other highly-indebted eurozone nations.

But the government is struggling to convince lenders that it is cutting effectively enough. Greece says it needs the next 8bn euros ($11bn; £7bn) of the first bailout agreed to last year or it will soon be unable to pay its bills.

The details of the second rescue plan have yet to be finalised. Banks have agreed to take a 21% loss, or “haircut”, on their loans to Greece but there is growing pressure for them to accept higher losses.

European leaders and global finance chiefs are trying to work out a broader plan to tackle the eurozone’s debt crisis ahead of a weekend summit in Brussels.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy flew to Germany late on Wednesday to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel and senior officials from the European Central Bank and IMF.

Neither leader gave any details about what had been discussed.

The two have disagreed about how Europe’s bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), can be leveraged from its current 440bn euros to a much higher value in order to bail out banks and struggling countries such as Italy and Spain, if needed.

Struggling Wikileaks stops publishing classified files

Julian Assange says a blockade by US finance companies has cut off 95% of Wikileaks’ revenue

The whistle-blowing website Wikileaks is suspending its publication of classified files.

Wikileaks said that it would focus instead on raising funds to ensure its future survival.

The announcement came after what the group called a blockade by US-based finance companies.

This followed its disclosure on the internet of hundreds of thousands of secret US government files and diplomatic cables.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said that since last December an “arbitrary and unlawful financial blockade” had been imposed by Bank of America, Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and Western Union.

“The attack has destroyed 95% of our revenue,” he said.

The former computer hacker said the organisation had lost “tens of millions of dollars in lost donations at a time of unprecedented operational costs”.

“A handful of US finance companies cannot be allowed to decide how the whole world votes with its pocket,” he added.

Mr Assange said Wikileaks must “aggressively fundraise in order to fight back against this blockade and its proponents”.

He said the group was taking pre-litigation action against the blockade in Iceland, Denmark, the UK, Brussels, the United States and Australia and had lodged an anti-trust complaint at the European Commission.

A Wikileaks spokesman, Kristinn Hrafnsson said its website would reopen for submissions of confidential documents on 28 November.

Norfolk farmhouse

Mr Assange is in Britain awaiting a decision by the High Court on the appeal against his extradition to Sweden to face sex assault charges.

After the hearing in July, judges did not give a date for their decision on Mr Assange’s bid to overturn a judgment made in February.

He fears extradition to Sweden may lead to him being sent to the United States to face separate charges relating to Wikileaks, for which he could face the death penalty.

The Australian won bail in December and has been staying at Ellingham Hall, a 10-bedroom Norfolk farmhouse owned by Vaughan Smith, director of the Frontline media club.

His bail conditions include wearing an electronic tag and daily appearances at a nearby police station.

Mr Assange describes the allegations as “without basis”.

Bank of America and Mastercard have refused to comment to the BBC.

PayPal referred the BBC to a statement issued last December which said that Wikileaks had violated its “Acceptable Use Policy”, specifically alleging that WikiLeaks was encouraging sources to release classified material, which was likely to be a violation of US law.

Visa Europe also said that merchants wanting to accept Visa payment must abide by its operating regulations and also the applicable laws in the country or countries where the cardholder and the merchant were based.

Boeing’s Dreamliner set for maiden commercial flight

After three years of delays, Boeing’s Dreamliner jet is set for its maiden commercial voyage.

The All Nippon Airlines (ANA) flight will take off from Tokyo around 1230 local time, bound for Hong Kong.

The Dreamliner had originally been scheduled for delivery in 2008, but Boeing has suffered a string of setbacks.

Boeing plans to make 10 of the planes a month from 2013.

Wednesday’s flight is a special charter, with normal services due to start in November.

Because of the materials used in construction, Boeing says the Dreamliner is about 20% more fuel efficient than similarly sized models flying today.

That would be a big help for airlines coping with the high cost of jet fuel, which is usually their biggest single cost.

Japan, a country in which Boeing dominates rival Airbus, is a major market for the Dreamliner.

ANA will take delivery of dozens more of the aircraft in the coming years.

But Boeing’s delays have hurt its business.

Last week, China Eastern Airlines cancelled orders for 24 Dreamliners, rather than wait for production to pick up.

Nokia services

To distinguish itself from other makers of Windows phones like HTC, Samsung and LG, Nokia is betting on a range of services.

The BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones interviews Nokia boss Stephen Elop

Key among them is the integration of location-based services like Nokia Maps, real-time navigation software Nokia Drive, a live-streaming music service Mix Radio and Liveview, an augmented reality service.

Nokia’s navigation service Drive will be free. It will not run in an app but will use HTML 5 technology, and will be updated with traffic information in real-time.

Nokia will also deliver its phones with the ESPN sports hub, which will provide free access to text and video news from ESPN.

The biggest innovation, though, could be Nokia Pulse, a service that combines elements of social networking with location services. It allows users to share with friends and family experiences – from pictures to whereabouts to activities, integrated with Nokia’s mapping service

Cold water

Shortly before Mr Elop announced the switch to Microsoft Windows Phone, he sent an email to his staff, in which he compared the company to a man on a burning platform, who had the choice of burning to death or jumping into the icy waters below.

The launch of the new phones is Nokia’s splash landing. Mr Elop will hope that the new hardware and software offering will be popular enough with consumers to allow the company to swim.

The Lumia 710 is a cheaper alternative to the 800 model

But it is not just Nokia that has a lot riding on the launch of these phones.

Software giant Microsoft has been struggling for years to break into the mobile phone market. Its most recent offering, the Windows Phone 7 software, has been well received but gained little traction in the market.

The company will hope that Nokia’s close relationship with mobile phone network operators around the world will give it the access to consumers that has been lacking so far.

The Lumia launch, with 35 network operators, will be accompanied by a campaign called “The Amazing Everyday” involving viral marketing stunts.

Microsoft is reportedly supporting both Nokia and Samsung with tens of millions of dollars to advertise new Windows Phones in the market.