Filenews 21 December 2022
A Cypriot voucher scheme of €12 million to support households in accessing high-speed broadband services, with the aim of promoting the country's digitalisation, has been approved by the European Commission.
According to a communication, the programme supports the uptake of broadband services through existing infrastructure, ensuring wide availability of high-speed broadband services for citizens.
The scheme will last until 30 June 2025 and will be partially financed through the Recovery and Resilience Facility, following the positive assessment of the Cypriot recovery and resilience plan by the Commission and its approval by the Council.
The aid will take the form of vouchers for households that do not have a subscription to a connection that provides a data download speed of at least 100 Mbabit per second (Mbps). The scheme will cover part of the cost of deployment and the first 12 months of subscription to broadband services providing speeds of at least 200 Mbps.
The programme is expected to benefit around 82,000 households and will be open to all broadband providers able to provide these services.
The Commission assessed the scheme under EU State aid rules, in particular Article 107(3)(c) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which allows Member States to support the development of certain economic activities or economic areas under certain conditions.
The Commission found that the scheme is necessary to address a market failure, namely the slow take-up of broadband services by households in Cyprus. Despite the wide availability of networks capable of providing high-speed broadband services in Cyprus and despite the increasing needs of households, data show that the take-up of these services by Cypriot households remains relatively low.
According to the Commission's assessment, the measure is an incentive as connectivity and access to broadband would not be facilitated to the same extent without public support.
The Cypriot regime will enter into force the day after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union, which is expected in January 2023.
