The European Commission (EC) claims to be "doing quite well" with progress on its Digital Agenda plan, which was formally adopted nine months ago. The agenda, among other things, seeks to bring basic broadband to all Europeans by 2013 and to ensure that, by 2020, everybody has access to faster 30Mbps+ service speeds (with 50% or more using a 100Mbps product).

The Vice-President of the EC responsible for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, confirmed in a speech to the CEBIT 2011 event in Hannover today that it aimed to complete most of the necessary actions by the end of 2013 (e.g. new legal framework). Kroes also stated that 10% of the necessary work was already done, 80% is on track and another 10% was experiencing some delay.


Kroes also pointed towards the forthcoming May 2011 release of their new Digital Agenda Scoreboard, which aims to track the progress of individual members states (e.g. UK) in implementing the wider strategy.

This is expected to show that the proportion of the population regularly using the Internet has increased by 5% in a single year to 65%, while the percentage of non-users has decreased from 30% to 26%. The Agenda itself hopes to increase regular internet use from 60% to 75% by 2015. So far they appear to be on track and well ahead of the 2015 target.

The EC also confirmed that it would hold its next primary Digital Agenda Assembly (Brussels) on 16th and 17th June 2011. This will bring Member States, EU institutions, citizens' representatives and industry together to assess progress and emerging challenges.