One of the primary factors that helped in bringing broadband internet access to Costa Tropical is the budget of EUR 400 million available to the European Development Fund for regional development projects throughout Europe. Contributions from this fund have helped in the creation of a strong network of broadband centers for public access in some of the small and far off rural towns.

According to a statement made by the Commission, the ERDF project aims to enhance a high rate of literacy in the various regions of Costa Tropical in the field of information and communication technology. This is being done to shorten the digital gap that exists between the citizens and the regional economy.

This decision was announced by Michel Barnier, who is one of the important members of the Commission that is responsible for issuing this regional policy. He said, “through the regional programs of innovative actions we aim to improve the quality of mainstream programs of the regional development fund in regions which are lagging behind or suffering from structural change. The actors should view the innovative actions as a laboratory for experimentation in order to find answers for the new challenges in regional development. I am convinced that this program will strengthen the capacity of innovation in Andalucía and contribute to its development strategy.”

This program includes various innovative actions named as “Guadalinfo” and its main aim is to provide a creative edge and increase participation of people through broadband access throughout this Andalucian region. Guadalinfo will also help in promoting some innovative and state-of-the-art tele-matic services as well as applications that will make an important contribution for the creation of several virtual communities and co-operative & healthy working environments. The main aim is to offer a better territorial integration.

Out of the four major action fields that have been created, broadband access is on the top of the action list. The idea is to create centers for broadband access to Internet for the public or the residents of the various regions of Costa Tropical. Right now, 25 such centers are being created.

Apart from these plans, broadband internet access is a common thing in this region. Most of the good hotels have 24-hour high-speed internet access and there are hundreds of internet centers mushrooming that offer the flexibility of internet browsing to both locals and tourists. With the future development plans in the offing, broadband access will become something very commonplace.