The European Commission has unveiled a new €315 initiative to improve broadband services and infrastructure across the continent.
The funding is intended to make Europe more attractive for investment, by removing regulatory bottlenecks and boosting improvements in broadband networks, transport and education, as well as research and innovation.
Most of the money is intended to come from the private sector, with €315 billion of additional investment rolled out over the next three years, until 2017.
One specific initiative mentioned by the EC is the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), which originally had €9.2 billion set aside for broadband improvements but now has new funding proposing a similar outcome.
EC President Jean-Claude Juncker, who has previously called for "far-reaching and faster broadband across Europe", said that the new funding is an ambitious new way of boosting investment, without creating new debt.
He added: "Now is the time to invest in our future, in key strategic areas for Europe, such as energy, transport, broadband, education, research and innovation. Europe needs a kick-start and today we are supplying the jump cables."
