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99% of Belgian households connected to high-speed internet

Under its Europe 2020 strategy, the EU aims to make fast broadband available to all citizens. Data published by the European Court of Auditors (ECA), however, shows that the target will not be met by a fair number of EU Member States. With 99% of Belgian households connected to high-speed internet, Belgium is therefore the exception rather than the rule.

No digital society without broadband

Digital data traffic over the world wide web is playing an increasingly large role in the lives of European citizens, governments and businesses. Fast, high-quality access to the internet, also known as broadband, is therefore becoming ever more important.

In line with the importance of internet access in today’s digital society, the European Union has set an ambitious broadband target by 2020: to provide all citizens with fast broadband (over 30 Megabytes per second).

Network technology in the EU

Broadband has generally been improving across the European Union, but many EU Member States will not achieve the 2020 target. When it comes to internet access, there is a striking contrast between cities and rural areas which are lagging behind due to a lack of incentives to stimulate private sector investment.

Belgium, however, excels in network technology: as the ECA reported, 99% of Belgian households have access to fast broadband – a percentage that makes Belgium stand out from neighboring countries France and Germany. This is mostly due to other tech sectors that contribute to and are affected by network technology developments: micro- and nanotechnology, cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things and fintech.

About Belgium and Flanders

With Dutch as its official language, Flanders (Dutch: Vlaanderen) is the northern region of Belgium. The capital of both Belgium and Flanders is Brussels.

More info

European Court of Auditors
Reported by
Source: http://www.euronews.com
14 June 2018

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