Open calls

Strategic Objective 1: Overall improvement of the Unified Electronic Communications Network (UECN).

The Unified Electronic Communications Network (UECN) is an integrated national communications network consisting of 7 500 km of fibre optic network, 30 backbone nodes and nearly 100 aggregation nodes. The network operates in 24x7x365 mode and provides connectivity for more than 1 200 central and local public administrations and other public sector organisations.

This objective focuses on supporting the significant modernisation and expansion of the public administration's UECN. The measure includes the provision of fibre connectivity to 140 municipal centres. Fiber optic capacity can be provided by building new infrastructure or reusing existing infrastructure by establishing an Indefeasible Right of Use (IRU). In a further 45 locations, existing networks are to be upgraded and/or prevented, including through the replacement of passive elements to build access points, part of the national network, located in municipal centres and connected to aggregation sites via 2x40Gbps or 2x100Gbps links respectively.

Strategic objective 2: Bridging the digital divide by supporting the deployment of very high capacity networks (VHCN) in sparsely populated and rural areas.

The second strategic objective aims to mitigate the 'digital divide' by promoting the deployment of very high capacity networks (VHCN) in remote, sparsely populated and rural areas. The initiative targets areas that are particularly affected by infrastructure deficits resulting from market failures. Special attention will be paid to regions that lack reliable regional or local fibre connectivity, which is essential for data transmission to key nodes in regional and municipal cities. The aim is to enable an additional 350 000 people to have access to services based on VHCN provided by a technology neutral infrastructure/network. At least 50% of the settlements covered by this measure will be in remote, rural and sparsely populated areas where there is no market interest in building VHCN.