Regulators warned on September 20 that a million jobs across Europe could be at stake if national authorities fail to boost high-speed broadband Internet roll-out and take-up.
The European Union's commissioner for the digital agenda, Neelie Kroes, said action to complete ultra-fast fixed and mobile Internet coverage would hold the key to "Europe's wider prospects for economic growth and social cohesion."
Unveiling proposals flagged up by AFP on Sunday, Kroes said Europe "cannot sit by and allow our businesses to continue to compete against Asian businesses with Internet 100 times faster than our own."
She blamed "complacency" among national and local authorities before outlining three main ideas. She said national bodies have to encourage investment but safeguard competition.
They also had to free up radio spectrum for wireless services and work out how best to increase private and public investment in broadcast networks.
In detailed proposals, Brussels suggested using post-recessionary times of high unemployment to encourage new public works programmes underpinning private investment, to dig extra fixed-line networks.
On average, 94 percent of Europeans had high-speed broadband access by the end of 2009, but that proportion fell to 80 percent in rural areas.
Brussels estimates total private and public investment in new fibre-optic cable networks by 2020 at between 180 and 270 billion euros (235-350 billion dollars).