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NLconnect

The aim of NLconnect is to promote and defend the Dutch telecommunications, fiber and broadband industry's policies and business interests, and to foster co-operation among its members.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Fighting against online piracy of live content

10 Feb 2023

Please find our feedback in the attached pdf
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Response to Evaluation of State Aid rules for broadband infrastructure deployment

29 Jul 2020

NLconnect is the Dutch broadband trade association. Members include companies that build, own and operate fiber, cable, fixed-wireless and mobile networks and companies that provide services on these and other broadband infrastructures, as well as their numerous suppliers. NLconnect strives for ubiquitous high quality and high speed broadband connectivity in the Netherlands. We welcome both the intention to evaluate the state aid rules for broadband infrastructure deployment and the opportunity to provide feedback on the roadmap. The EU state aid rules have long made it clear that government investment in broadband networks should only focus on resolving market failures. Public funds should not be invested in broadband projects in areas where private broadband investment is being made or planned. Any revision of the rules should hold on to this goal as well as a technology-neutral definition of broadband. Naturally it seems appropriate to incorporate the concept of very high capacity networks (VHCN), since this is relevant for several provisions in the EECC and the goals of the Gigabit Society. Our members have gained a lot of experience in recent years with the roll-out of broadband in the Netherlands. This also involved roll-out in rural areas, which almost always happened with private funds. Only in a few cases has state aid been necessary, and sometimes our members had to conclude that the rules were too strict to properly facilitate roll out. On the other hand, in other cases state aid rules turned out to be insufficiently strict to prevent private investments from being crowded out. A revision could help to keep the right balance. We would like to share these examples from the Dutch practice with the Commission in the planned consultation round later this year. We propose that the questionnaire asks for both examples in which, despite the state aid rules, private investments were still crowded out and examples in which the rules actually hindered roll out.
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