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PUSEMOR

Final Conference

Lugano,21.Juni 2007

Dipl.Ing.Herbert Frech

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I. Importance of new telecommunication technologies for rural areas

II. Broadband initiative in Austria

III. Reflection about PUSEMOR pilot projects concerning telecommunication

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I. Importance of new telecommunication technologies for rural areas

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What are new technologies?

• Infrastructure (e.g.: WIMAX, HSDPA)

• IP (Internet Protocol) Net (NGN–Next Generation Network)

„All IP based“

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Telephony

Data

Cable

Broadcast

Wireless

Traditional

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Internet Protokoll

Voice

Web

Email

New

Video

Multimedia,etc.

Conte

nt

Cable

Wire

less

Satell

ite

Fiber

Device

s

Apps

Users

Coppe

r

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The internet protocol as a standardized support service

Telephony Data/Internet Multimedia, Applications

Variety of products and services

Copper wire(Ethernet, ISDN, xDSL)

radio (WLAN,WIMAX GSM, UMTS,HSDPA usw.)

SatelliteFibre optic cable (ATM, SDH, DWDM, etc.)

Internet Protocol „ALL over IP“

Variety of technologies

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NGN (next generation network), NGM (next generation media - IPTV) abolish the distance and border between rural and urban areas and give the rural regions the same chance and possibilities like in the cities.

The success lies in acceptance and therefore in the quality of the offered services and applications and their (added) value for the users!!!

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Examples of potential useful application fields

e-health (diagnostic finding transmission, electronic vaccination card, etc.)

e–education (e-learning)

e-government

e-tourism

e-collaboration (teleworking)

e-market

entertainment (VoD, time shift TV, interactive gaming)

IPTV

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Possibilities with IPTV

• The local community creates content for the local community

• Individually accessible content with high emotional relevance

• Producers define the program and become opinion leaders in the village

• Integration of all interested communities as “content – producers” (municipality, clubs, youth, local companies)

• Producers are marketers for their own program

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II. Broadband initiative in Austria

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Situation before the start of project “Broadband-Initiatives“ (status 2004)

• The RTR (Regulator) estimated the costs of broadband expansion (100% coverage) in Austria between 300 and 700 Mio. €

• The government department announced a support of 10. Mio. € for broadband-internet-infrastructure in Austria within the broadband Initiative of the RTR.

• All together, 30 Mio. € have been provided for broadband initiative: one third each was given by the Austrian government, the federal states(Bundesländer) and the EU

• The government proposal was carried out within the end of the year 2004 (decision of counsel of ministers)

• The handling though the single Bundesländer and the ERP Funds lead to a delay of one year (first actual proposal at the end of 2005)

• Big inhomogeneity in contents within the supply of the sponsorship in the single Bundesländer

• Strong preference for wireless-internet (WLAN) within some Bundesländer - initiatives

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International Compare of Sponsorship

Sponsorship for BB- expansion in infrastructure:

France approx. 110 Million € Italy approx. 930 Million € Northern Ireland approx. 25 Million € Sweden approx. 4.150 M SEK = 439 Million € United Kingdom approx. 1 Billion Pounds = 1,467 Billion

€ Ireland approx. 160 Million € Austria approx. 30 Million €

*Quelle IKT- Masterplan

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Realization through the individual federal states(Bundesländer)

• Telekom Austria has participated in all proposals

• Realization have already been done in Carinthia, Burgenland, Upper Austria, Styria (Part 1+2), Salzburg, Vorarlberg and Tyrol

• There is still a third section to be realized in Styria

• In Lower Austria the BB- Supply was given to NöKom(Regional EVU) (WLAN Technology).

• BB – Supply in Vorarlberg, Tyrol and Carinthia was given to Telekom Austria (ADSL Technology).

• BB- Supply in Burgenland, Upper Austria,Styria and Salzburg was given to Telekom Austria ,CATV and WIMAX provider

The amount of money from sponsorship is approx. 22 Mio € up to now

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BB Coverage before and after the broadband initiative:(Coverage related to households)

• 1.1.2005: Austria 88,7% Tyrol 94,5%

• 1.1.2007: Austria 95,0%(updated:95,4%) Tyrol 98,0%

The increase of nearly 7% took place exclusively in rural areas

but: only 39% of the households use BB

Therefore all activities for more usage must be extremely strengthened!!

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III. Reflection about the PUSEMOR pilot projects within telecommunications

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All PUSEMOR partners and actors are very committed and aspire a successful conclusion of the projects

That’s why a successful conclusion of Interreg III B Projects PUSEMOR seems to be guaranteed

The period between the idea, the design and the actual operation of the TK pilot projects seemed to be relatively long

Most of the projects have been implemented or started recently

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Almost 60% of all pilot projects concern telecommunication

This means that telecommunication, especially broadband technologies are considered as very important for all rural areas by all PUSEMOR partners

75% of pilot projects concerning telecommunication are infrastructure (BB) and only 25% with content

Obviously, the choice of the pilot projects depends heavily on the degree of development of broadband infrastructure within the individual partner regions

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The project results should be exchanged and discussed by all partners

As most of the projects have only just started it seems realistic to receive results within the next year (summer 2008)

The results of the individual projects can be transferred directly or in a transformed way to other regions

Thus, the use is not only for the pilot regions but also for all other regions

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Broadband infrastructure is a question of survival for rural areas

BB infrastructure is not going to solve all problems in rural areas but there will be no future for them without it

BB infrastructure is a necessary basis but only the offered services and applications and also the accordant use is going to decrease the gap between urban and rural areas

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Even though the BB infrastructure is (hopefully) soon going to be area-wide, politics and public authorities will be heavily demanded within the planning and implementation of reasonable applications and services in the future

Especially in the beginning it will be hard to make services for rural areas commercially successful and therefore companies often don’t show big interest

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Thank you very much for your attention