Cyprus has notified the European Commission of a voucher scheme aimed at increasing the provision of broadband services through the existing infrastructure, ensuring widespread availability of high-speed broadband services for citizens.
The scheme, which will run until 30 June 2025 and has a total budget of €12 million, will be partly funded through the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (RSFF) following the positive assessment of the Cyprus Recovery and Resilience Plan by the Commission and its approval by the Council.
In particular, as the plan was adopted on 12 December 2022, the support will take the form of vouchers for households that do not have a connection with a download speed of at least 100 Megabits per second (Mbps). The voucher will cover part of the installation costs and the first 12 months of subscription to broadband services providing data download speeds of at least 200 Mbps. Under this scheme, 82,000 households are expected to benefit. All broadband service providers able to provide these services will be eligible.
The Commission found that the scheme:
A) is necessary to address the slow take-up of eligible broadband services by households in Cyprus, as despite the widespread availability of networks capable of providing high-speed broadband services and despite the increasing needs of households for efficient connectivity, evidence shows that the take-up of such services by households remains relatively low.
B) is incentive-based, as connectivity and access to broadband services would not be facilitated to the same extent in the absence of public support;
C) has sufficient safeguards to ensure that undue distortions of competition are limited. In particular, the measure is proportionate as it is limited in time and does not exceed the minimum necessary. It is also technologically neutral, ensuring equal treatment of broadband service providers able to provide the eligible services and covers only part of the costs of subscribing to new high-speed connections or upgrading existing connections. However, the scheme in question is in line with the new 2023 Broadband Guidelines adopted on 12 December 2022 and will apply from the day after their publication in the Official Journal of the EU.
The non-confidential version of the decision will be published under case number SA.102977 (2022) in the State Aid Register on the website of the Commission's Directorate-General for Competition, once any confidentiality issues have been resolved: https:/ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/el/ip_22_7736.
According to the statements of Ms Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of competition policy, on 21 December 2022: "This 12 million euro Cypriot voucher scheme, partially funded via the Resilience Facility, will ensure that citizens can have access to high speed broadband services. This will contribute to the economic development and social cohesion in that competition is not unduly distorted."
(MΓ/ΣΧ)
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