Bottom-up Broadband Initiatives in the Commons for Europe Project

TL;DR

This paper discusses the Commons for Europe project and how Bottom-up Broadband initiatives involve local beneficiaries actively in network development, aiming to complement traditional infrastructure and promote community-driven digital inclusion.

Contribution

It provides an overview of BuB pilot proposals within the C4EU project and aims to establish best practices and guidelines for community-led broadband deployments.

Findings

Selection of BuB pilot proposals for implementation

Development of project templates and case studies

Assessment of BuB effectiveness in European communities

Abstract

This paper offers an overview of the Commons for Europe (C4EU) project and the role of Bottom-up Broadband (BuB) in developing the information society. BuB is characterized by the fact that the beneficiaries of the networks actively participate in the planning, deployment and maintenance tasks. For the beneficiaries, this represent a paradigm shift from a consumer-only position to an active-participant position. We summarize a representative set of the BuB pilot proposals that have been considered in the context of the C4EU project. A selection of these proposals will be executed and carefully documented to define good practices in BuB deployments. The documentation will include project templates, work plans, case studies, replicable success models and regulatory guidelines. The overall goal of the project is to assess the validity of the BuB model to effectively and efficiently complement exiting traditional deployments in satisfying the networking and technological needs of the European citizens and organizations.