25/08/2005

The development of broadband infrastructure and services in the EU new Member States and the Associated Candidate Countries, through the cross-border research collaboration and the transfer of know-how, is the objective of the new project BReATH.

The project is funded by the 6th Framework Programme for Research of the European Commission (“Information Society Technologies (IST)” programme). It runs for 18 months and the partners involved are research institutions from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Greece, Poland, Slovenia and Czech Republic. The Greek partner, the Research and Education Society in Information Technologies (AIT), is the Technical Manager of the project.

BReATH will survey and benchmark the current status of deploying broadband access and services in the new Member States and the Associated Candidate Countries, to identify opportunities, problems and hurdles regarding their deployment. Detailed techno-economic studies and systematic investment modeling will culminate in a ‘Road Map’ and ‘Good Practice Framework’ for the strategic development of broadband.

The project is in line with the other initiatives to counter the “digital gap” between Eastern and Western Europe. Its results are expected to be useful both for the policy-makers for broadband (government, business, investors, etc), and for the citizens as the end users and final beneficiaries of the Information Society services.

Information:
Athens Information Technology (ΑΙΤ)
Dr Ch. Kolias
Tel: +30 210 6682792
ckol@ait.edu.gr

Source: AIT