International Project of Slovenia and Croatia awarded „The European Broadband Awards 2019“

ZAGREB, December 4, 2019 - At the  ceremony held in Brussels, the best European projects in the field of broadband connectivity were awarded by the European Commission while the company Vahta d.o.o. was awarded  in the category "Innovative financing, business and investment models" Rural Network Project (RUNE). It is a project launched to provide ultra-fast broadband fiber optic infrastructure for users in the rural areas of Croatia (Primorje-Gorski Kotar and Istria County) and Slovenia. The targeted project area covers 14,278 square kilometres of mostly rural area, ie 3,676 villages and 372,315 potential connections. The access network will be managed in accordance with the wholesale model.

 

The awards in categories  such as Cost Reduction and Co-Investment Measures, Socio-Economic Impact in Rural and Isolated Areas, Demand Generation and Utilization of Available Connectivity and Service Quality and Accessibility were given to the projects from Lithuania, Spain, Greece and the United Kingdom. Among the finalists of this incentive award, with the aim to highlight good practice examples of the European broadband projects, with an innovative approach of  achieving the goals of gigabit society, it is worth mentioning the high ranking of the Croatian project "Community as an initiator of FTTH" by Pro-Ping Ltd. in the Podravina municipality of Drnje, which decided to co-finance the FTTH network for residents within its area.

ABOUT HAKOM: HAKOM (www.hakom.hr) - Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries – ensures preconditions for a fair market competition, stable growth and environment for innovations in the electronic communications and postal services market. HAKOM protects users’ interests and the possibility of choice among various communications and postal services at affordable prices, defines sustainable competitive conditions for operators and service providers under fair conditions for return on investment, and provides support to economic growth, public services and the quality of life in the Republic of Croatia by using modern technologies. HAKOM’ strategic goals are: to promote regulation of the electronic communications and postal services market, to support growth of investments and innovations in the electronic communications and postal services market, to provide efficient use of limited resources, to accelerate the growth of broadband products and services, to provide affordable offers of communications and postal services, to provide protection and informing of users, to build an efficient and comprehensive information system, to define and implement efficient processes, and to acquire multi-disciplinary