Brussels, 18/11/2004 (Agence Europe) - Three aid projects for broad band infrastructure financing have been approved by the Commission. The Commission states that the support provided to the project for the French Department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques is not aid but rather compensation for services of general economic interest, and that the aid granted within the framework of two British projects (Scotland and East Midlands) is compatible with the Community State aid regime.
The creation and the management of a broad band public network will allow telecommunications operators to provide services to citizens, companies or public institutions throughout the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, which is essentially composed of rural and isolated areas for which the market offer is insufficient. The construction and the exploitation of this infrastructure will be in the form of a public service concession, whereby the party holding the concession remains an intermediary without the power to sell services to end-users but who acts as an operator providing a service for other operators. Above all, the project mainly includes the renting of the network's black fibre, the optical fibre in place but not connected to active equipment. In the form of investment linked to the network, the Commission considers that access to broad band services is a service of general economic interest (SGEI), which is not the case for all broad band services intended for end-users. Given the fact that the project complies with the criteria established by jurisprudence in the Altmark ruling, public cofinancing, in the case in hand, is compensation for SEGI and not aid.
In the case of aid provided to the provision of broad band services in Scotland and the East Midlands in the United Kingdom, the Commission felt that it was compatible with the regional aid regime as it concerns rural and isolated areas. Although these projects concern the provision of services, competition will be safeguarded in so far as the British authorities have foreseen guarantees, especially in terms of amounts granted. Thus, all the operators will have access to the network and no specific technology will be given preference. Up to £1.9 million may be mobilised by the public authorities in the East Midlands.