IN AN ideal world the Communication Ministry and key players in the telecommunication market would agree to develop the necessary infrastructure that gives all residents access to all broadband services.
If an agreement is reached between the two sides even the remotest communities would have access to all broadband services, “the same a city boy”, said Stelios Himonas, head of the Ministry’s Department of Electronic Communications.
Himonas said the first brainstorming session had taken place on Monday to promote the development of this infrastructure in rural communities for the benefit of everyone. He said the issue had to be investigated further and at this point “everything was up in the air” with no visible conclusion in sight.
Last week the villages of Odou and Kapedes were connected to the internet through a joint initiative between the Communication Ministry and Hellas Sat. The idea is to connect a further 151 rural communities by the end of the year.
Himonas said the project with Hellas Sat was limited to offering shared connectivity to the internet alone and no other broadband services, such as PrimeHome or Cytavision.
In urban areas consumers had access to these services thanks to the existing infrastructure, which was not available in remote communities, he said.
Himonas said the government was using part of Hellas Sat’s licensing fee to pay for the project.
“We hope by the new school year to connect the 25 communities that have primary schools and the rest by the end of the year… It’s an ambitious target,” he said.
In the meantime discussions would continue about developing an infrastructure that would meet future needs, meaning a faster connection.
Himonas said it had not so far been “commercially attractive” for market players to under the initiative alone, but that this could perhaps change if the burden was shared out.
“There are a number of ways to do it. One suggestion was a consortium but there is nothing final,” he said.
The senior official said everyone at Monday’s meeting had been interested though not everyone would be able to participate due to the huge costs involved. He said the government was willing to make €2.5 million available through EU programmes and was looking to determine other factors and parameters that would make this a reality.
He said: “First of all we must determine the cost, what’s at stake (the social need) and if it’s deemed a go, we will go ahead… Anything else is premature. We just launched a process and agreed to continue with dialogues to see what we are going to do.”
In the meantime CYTA is continuing its plans to extend its network to all rural and housing communities.
CYTA press officer Sofia Yiannakou said the company aimed to link 95 rural communities to its broadband network by the end of this year. The remaining 63 would be connected by the end of 2010, she said.
She said the total project would cost something in the region of €12 million.
“Whatever happens we will continue according to our schedule and set up the necessary infrastructure,” she said.
