MAGYAR TELEKOM BROADBAND SERVICES

The project concerns various strategic broadband platform developments of Magyar Telekom to supply advanced residential and business broadband services. It comprises the roll out of new business broadband services, the further expansion of existing consumer broadband services (xDSL) in terms of geographical coverage as well as performance, and the reinforcement of the national fibre backbone and the access network.

This project will help in providing the country with state of the art telecommunications broadband infrastructure and deliver opportunities for the development of innovative services. The project thus contributes to the policy objective of furthering the "Information Society" and reduces the risk of an emerging digital divide with new Member States through modernization of fixed telecommunications infrastructure, a key platform for the provision of advanced broadband services.

The project activity does not fall under the categories listed in Annexes I and II of EU Council Directive 97/11/EC. Therefore, Environmental Impact Assessment is subject only to national legislation. The material part of the investment will basically concern new or additional equipment, which is normally housed in existing exchanges, hence no significant environmental impact is expected.

Hungary liberalised the telecom markets in December 2001 and joined the EU in May 2004. The promoter is a publicly traded company. The Hungarian procurement law is harmonised i.a. with Directive 93/38/EEC and its subsequent amendments. Its effectiveness and the promoter’s measures for compliance will be reviewed during the appraisal. However, since Directive 2004/17/EC superseded Directive 93/38/EEC and considered that the regulation of the procurement processes of the telecommunication sector is no longer necessary, amendments to domestic law can be expected.