Slovenia has called for expressions of interest (EOI) in partnering with the government to deploy a nationwide, wholesale broadband network.
Under the Ministry of Public Administration’s next-generation 2020 broadband plan (NGN 2020), Slovenia aims to cover areas of the country that have limited or no access to broadband – known as white spots – with an open access network capable of supporting a minimum throughput of 100Mbps.
“A public call to operators for a statement of interest is intended to identify areas where public funds may be used to co-finance the construction of open-ended broadband networks,” said a statement from the Ministry.
As part of this process, the Ministry has drawn up a list of more than 127,000 premises that lack access to at least 100-Mbps broadband, and a further 70,000 that can’t connect at faster than 30Mbps. Their precise location will be made available to operators that submit an EOI. This will help determine where public funds for infrastructure might be needed.
The government has allocated an indicative budget of €13.6 million towards constructing the network.
Operators have been given until 19 November to express their interest.