Croatia needs at least 500,000 broadband Internet connections by 2009 to catch up with the European Union and create one of the preconditions for the development of information society, according to a draft strategy for the development of broadband access in the country and an action plan for the implementation of the strategy in 2007.
The documents have been drafted by the Croatian Ministry of the Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development and offered for public consultation, open until July 19.
According to Eurostat figures, over 70 per cent of households in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark and Sweden have broadband connections, and in the Nordic countries almost all business enterprises use this type of Internet access.
Croatia has 2.5 broadband connections per 100 inhabitants, while the average of the 25-member EU is 11.5. The EU has about 53 million such connections while Croatia has about 100,000.
The average broadband penetration growth rate in the EU is about four per cent a year, and two per cent in the ten newly-admitted member states.
The promotion of broadband Internet access is part of the European Commission's initiative "i2010 - a European Information Society for Growth and Jobs".