Rural broadband to receive boost

The European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes has cleared EUR141 million (USD222 million) in German public funding to boost broadband internet use in rural areas, reports Reuters. 'The digital divide between rural and urban areas in Germany is currently one of the highest among the EU member states,' the Commissioner said. Although a DSL connection is available to nearly all city-living Germans, little more than half of the people living in the countryside could get one at the end of 2006. The plan provides incentives for telcos to roll out broadband networks to rural areas where investment would not otherwise be attractive on a commercial basis.