In a press release the EC said that the aim to build networks which are “5000 times faster than today’s average European broadband ISP speed.” This would mean 100Gbps compared to 19.7Mbps. While 100Gbps are not new most of these are major submarine or national cable links and not something you can get at home.
The new effort appears to be looking further ahead, with a view to improving the efficiency of such networks and perhaps even bringing them closer to homes. The EU expects data traffic to grow 12-fold by 2018, which is partly fuelled by ever faster fixed line ISP and mobile broadband connectivity.
It wants to make sure it has the technology ready and financed in time for the second boom.