Brussels, 08/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - Speaking at a conference organised in Brussels by EICTA, the European Industry of Consumer Electronics Technology Association, the European Commissioner responsible for the information society, Erkki Liikanen, considered that integrated broadband communications was "the core priority of the extension of e-Europe until 2005".
Mr. Liikanen called on the Barcelona Summit to send out a "strong political signal" to accelerate the uptake of broadband in Europe, stipulating that generalised access has important economic and social consequences. "All EU regions and areas must have access", he said, adding that broadband content "should be available through all terminals: computers, TV sets, mobile devices, etc.". For his part, Anthony Parish, EICTA President, said that "broadband can deliver the economic gains that have long been promised by the Internet", and that "it can play a significant role in driving European competitiveness and will boost GDP growth". Those fields in which the ICT industries expect the most benefits from the generalisation of broadband are: e-commerce, e-learning, e-government, health, entertainment and transport. Liikanen and Parish agreed that, without co-ordinated initiatives by governments at all levels, few of these potential benefits are likely to be realised. The considered that, in the current economic climate, a continuation of the status quo will not be enough to get he broadband market off the ground. Mr. Parish then pointed out that "the threats to Europe if it falls behind its global competitors in developing a robust broadcast infrastructure are real".