The review of the Universal Service Obligation (USO) has recently been debated in the European Union (EU). Under discussion there was the extension of the current universal service definition to include broadband access, for which some theoretical and empirical support exists. In fact the...

Based on expected wider social and economic objectives, municipalities across Europe are increasingly becoming involved in the implementation of broadband networks in their communities since the late 1990s. Since 2003, the European Commission has developed elaborated (market) testing procedures...