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Country Name of Regulator Abbreviation<br />
Poland Urzędu Komunikacji Elektronicznej<br />
www.uke.gov.pl<br />
UKE<br />
Portugal Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações<br />
www.anacom.pt<br />
ANACOM<br />
Romania Autoritatea Naţională pentru Administrare şi<br />
Reglementare în Comunicaţii www.ancom.org.ro<br />
ANCOM<br />
Slovak Telekomunikacný úrad Slovenskej republiky TO SR<br />
Republic www.teleoff.gov.sk<br />
Slovenia Agencija za pošto in elektronske komunikacije RS<br />
www.apek.si<br />
APEK<br />
Spain Comisión del Mercado de las<br />
Telecomunicaciones www.cmt.es<br />
CMT<br />
Sweden Post- och Telestyrelsen www.pts.se PTS<br />
Switzerland Office fédéral de la Communication<br />
www.bakom.ch<br />
OFCOM<br />
Turkey Bilgi Teknolojileri ve İletişim Kurumu<br />
www.tk.gov.tr<br />
BTK<br />
United<br />
Kingdom<br />
Office of Communications www.ofcom.org.uk Ofcom<br />
State aid<br />
The European Commission has put broadband at the heart of public policy<br />
initiatives with the consequent <strong>be</strong>nefits in terms of job creation and economic<br />
prosperity. This creates an opportunity for private sector partners to work with<br />
local and regional authorities to create fibre networks, but also means that those<br />
authorities must <strong>be</strong> diligent about working in harmony with the EU rules on state<br />
aid – the penalty can <strong>be</strong> a refund of all aid granted, plus interest.<br />
The objective of state-aid control is to ensure that government interventions do<br />
not distort competition and intra-community trade. State aid is defined as an<br />
advantage in any form whatsoever conferred on a selective basis to undertakings<br />
by national public authorities. The EC Treaty pronounces the general prohibition<br />
of state aid. However, there are exemptions for a num<strong>be</strong>r of policy objectives, for<br />
which state aid can <strong>be</strong> considered acceptable.<br />
Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society and Media (2004-2010), has<br />
said: "Deployment of broadband may <strong>be</strong> hampered by market failures in rural and<br />
remote areas. In such cases, well-targeted state aid may therefore <strong>be</strong><br />
appropriate...”. Projects that have <strong>be</strong>nefited from EU support include the<br />
clearance for the Welsh Development Agency’s FibreSpeed project in Wales in<br />
early 2006, and the “Broadband for Kärnten” project in Austria.<br />
53 www.ftthcouncil.eu
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