Rural ICT Testbed - #fulltäckning

Purpose and goal:

The project has worked with the goal of creating attractive and competitive rural areas with the long-term vision of full areal coverage for mobile broadband. Since 2021, the project has expanded mobile coverage in regions that previously lacked connectivity. New technologies have been used to deliver services in areas lacking roads, electricity and fiber connections. Establishment of a new mobile operator focusing on sparsely populated areas has also taken place.

Expected results and effects:

The project has come to play an important role in influencing decision makers and accomplishing regulatory changes. It has had a tangible effect on decision makers through external visibility, seminars, meetings with local, regional and national politicians and national mobile operators, documents and publications in response to governmental investigations.

The project’s long-term vision have come significantly closer; rural regions have far better prospects for good and omnipresent coverage than they would have had without our efforts and accomplishments. Approach and implementation:

The project´s organization and partnership have paved the way for a successful project implementation. The division into work packages and activities has proven to be effective, with a smaller project management team and regular project meetings with the entire consortium. The project has been complex with many partners working on different aspects of how we improve mobile phone coverage in rural areas.

Changing external factors and new insights have led to re-planning and new time plans. Ultimately, these changes paved the way for a successful project implementation.