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Title	Description
A-BARD Final Recommendations	This report is based primarily on an assessment of all of the work that was undertaken in throughout the A-BARD project and a synthesis of technological possibilities, market opportunities and the capacity of actors in the rural areas to develop and expand ICT based services and applications. This synthesis takes into account the experience of rural areas as a whole and of possible development scenarios, in the context of wider EU developments. It provides a perspective on market segmentation in
A-BARD Guidelines	The guidelines presented in this report aim to motivate rural local authorities and community leaders to invest in broadband in their region in an effective way, using a four step roadmap of (1) Initiating a rural broadband project, (2) Definition of an overall broadband strategy (3) Going broadband (4) Impact assessment. These directly address the A-BARD recommendations to (a) Pro-actively stimulate business & technical competition in the Rural Broadband Market, (b) Develop sustainable Connecte
A-BARD Policy briefing	This report outlines the discussions held at the A-BARD policy briefing held in Brussels on November 30th 2006
Case Study 1 - Katrineholm	The Katrineholm municipality in the county of Sörmland, where we have conducted the case study, is located 150 km from central Stockholm. This report outlines the finding from our research.
Case Study 2 - Rakow Poland	This report on Rakow in Poland deals with: • The historical and geographical situation of Rakow • Telecommunications infrastructure in the commune of Rakow • The development of broadband network in the region • The usage of ICT and services by local inhabitants
Case Study 3 - Arrieta (Basque Country), Spain	This document describes the objectives and results of the Konekta Zaitez@Banda Zabala project launched by the Basque Government to guarantee that the rural areas get access to broadband. Arrieta, a typical rural municipality of Euskadi, has been selected to perform a field research to analyse the impact of the project.
Case Study 4 - Alston, United Kingdom	The parish of Alston Moor in the UK received broadband ahead of many other parts of rural Europe, thanks to an innovative government project – Cybermoor. We can see the impact of broadband on a rural community much more clearly with Alston as it is relatively remote and 40% of households have broadband. In this report we examine: • The historical and geographical situation of Alston Moor • Telecommunications infrastructure in the commune of Alston Moor • The development of broadband network
Case Study 5 - Vysocina, Czech Republic	This report presents the fifth A-BARD case study on the r A-BARD on the Vysocina region in the Czech Republic. It includes a description of Vysocina, analysis of state of the art on the base of interviews, market driven telecommunication infrastructure of Vysocina, regional development plan for Vysocina, Rowanet broadband network, projects in the region, examples of governmental commercial applications and services for citizens.
Case Study 6 - the Sámi people	This is the sixth case study of the A-BARD project. Broadband for the Sámi people in the Nordic countries and Russia along with other outdoor workers was selected as a special extreme case for examination. The Sámi people do not have broadband while they are working outdoor in the fells, nor do other outdoor workers such as foresters or even tourists who are hiking, fishing or hunting. The report explores, the history and geography of the county of Norrbotten, in northern Sweden, the telecommuni
Case Study 7 - Irish Group Broadband scheme	This seventh case study of the A-BARD project, describes the intention and analyses the results to the end of 2006 of a community Group Broadband Scheme that was established in Ireland to support local communities to bring broadband to their rural areas. This is a bottom-up community-driven that is felt by many to be an ideal approach to bring broadband to rural areas, but the Irish experience has had very mixed results. These are analysed in this case study.
Development Scenarios	The main purpose of this document is to overview This reports looks possible development scenarios based on the broadband rural cases that are taking place around Europe and the outcome of the ongoing analysis carried out by the A-BARD project. Three development scenarios are described but are not exclusive & every region, rural area or community could benefit from a combination of all of them.
Issue 1 - eHealth	This eHealth document is the first topic addressed by A-BARD.eHealth type services are seen as important both in the context of rural health-care delivery and in the justification for rural broadband. It is expected that identifying and understanding the issues associated with rural ehealth delivery will both help to illuminate and help to identify possible solutions for general rural broadband provision and use.
Issue 2 - eLearning	Rural areas tend to lose younger people who are looking for employment or who are going to study at specific learning institutes. This drains the skills and knowledge base of rural areas. eLearning and its delivery through broadband would appear to offer an opportunity to re-vitalise rural areas, enabling rural renewal, socially & economically.
Issue 3 - Business Models & Applications	This business models & applications theme deals with the issues that surround the business models. The analysis of the value chain (backbone infrastructure, last mile access, service provider and end-users) will shed more light on the problems that are negatively affecting the preparation of successful business cases.
Issue 4 - Digital Divide	The main objective of this discussion paper is to raise the discussion about the issues that surround the rural digital divide in Europe from a socio-economic point of view. It is about identifying the problems that are causing the rural digital divide & their possible resolution.
Issue 5 - eGovernment	eGovernment is one of the top priority policies of the European Commission to promote an inclusive European information society. From A-BARD perspective, the availability of good quality broadband connections and broadband applications is a key factor for the sustainable development of the rural areas.
Issue 6 - eCommunities July 06	Delivering broadband in many rural areas is less profitable than urban areas and leads to poorer rural broadband infrastructure. The best solution is to drive up broadband use in rural areas. By delivering content which is stimulating and relevant to a large proportion of the community, we can begin to increase penetration to levels above those in urban areas. More customers improve the business case for investment in rural broadband infrastructure.
Newsletter 1 - April 05	- Introduction to A-BARD project & output - Quick News - Broadband convergence (article) - Guide to A-BARD website
Newsletter 2 - July 05	- Rural broadband contribution to eDemocracy - Broadband deployment in the Czech Republic - Infrastructure developments
Newsletter 3 - October 2005 (pdf)	- Overview Broadband Broadcasting report (download full report for more details) - Broadband Development in Katrineholm- Sweden
Newsletter 4 - November 2005 (pdf)	- eHealth as driver for broadband deployment in rural Europe - Example of eHealth initiatives in Sweden
Newsletter 5 - January 06	- Wireless broadband as a solution for rural broadband - eLearning as a key application for rural population
Newsletter 6 - February 2006 (pdf)	- Can rural areas aspire to wired solutions? - Will entertainment drive broadband in rural homes
Newsletter 7 - April 06	- European Commission's communication on bridging the digital gap - eBusiness & broadband -
Newsletter 8 - June 06	- Extract of Arrieta workshop report - Norbotten bringing broadband to a challenging area of Europe - The Praha declaration
Newsletter 9 August 06	Cybermoor Case study - example of a community taking up broadband but also creating content that everyone is interested in
Newsletter10 - November 06	A-BARD briefing policy Jihlava- best practice in broadband roll outfrom an accession country Emergency response & Precision Farming applications supported by broadband Convergence - what does it mean for rural areas?
Rural Typology: identification & Mapping report 1 - June 05	A"preliminary A-BARD paper" on WP3 Rural Areas Identification and Mapping. The paper aims to overview contextual aspects and initiate discussion on the nature and means of developing an A-BARD typology.
Rural Typology: identification & Mapping report 2 - Oct 06	The limitation of typological mapping, given the emergence of wireless broadband technologies, is recognised. Local broadband market development factors that need to be considered are identified. The deliverable concludes with a series of findings that should be considered when planning local rural broadband initiatives.
Rural typology: Selected mapping of settlement patterns in two Member States	- RURAL BROADBAND TYPOLOGY? - RURAL TYPOLOGIES /SPATIAL ANALYSIS - TELECOMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE - STATISTICAL SOURCES - NEED FOR A PRAGMATIC APPROACH
Technology Report - Business Services	There are a few business services connected with broadband and Internet, which apply to agriculture: e-commerce, B2B (Business-to-Business), B2C (Business-to-Consumer), C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer) and CRM (Customer Relationship Management). This report highlights some good examples specific to rural commerce
Technology Report - Mobility	The European commission estimates that the main benefits of increasing mobility across the European Union are the following: • An increase in participation at work • Improve communication in teams • Improve Innovation and Creativity In this report will look at how the development collaborative work, ambient intelligence and location based service will change the way we communicate with others and the expectations these services will put on broadband provision for rural areas.
Technology report - Wired Technologies	In Europe ADSL is still the main broadband technology in Europe. Fibre is held as the technologie for higher speeds. The report presents the different technology and their respective value
Technology Report - Wireless technologies	This wireless report is aimed at people who are working to provide broadband in rural areas. It looks at services that end users can access directly and will not cover microwave and other carrier class wireless technologies. The report gives an overview of the benefits and disadvantages. We then look at the radio spectrum to how this impacts on service delivery. The main technologies are then examined, with a look at what will happen in the future.
Technology Report: Broadcast Broadband Technologies	The different television broadcast platforms used to deliver broadband include satellite, cable and MMDS. This report aims to give an insight into the potential deployment of all broadcast technologies into rural areas of Europe.
Technology Report: Entertainment	The use of the broadband infrastructure to distribute entertainment services has already taken hold in Europe. The penetration of Playstation devices in Ireland is second only to Japan. The creation of an interactive 3-D video experience for the consumer is underway and will drive the need for broadband in the home. This report looks at how entertainment may drive broadband to rural areas.
Workshop 1 - Katrineholm	The first A-BARD workshop was held on 5 September 2005 in Katrineholm, Sörmland. The aim was to bring together policy makers, academics and stakeholders working with broadband and broadband applications in Sörmland.
Workshop 2 - Bordeaux	This document describes the2nd workshop on Rural Broadband which was held in Bordeaux, France on 14/12/05. The workshop was organised to coincide with the BBeurope annual conference taking place in Bordeaux at that time. The document smmarise the presentations and discussions which took place at the work shop.
Workshop 3 - Arrieta	This document outlines the proceedings of the third workshop which was held in Arrieta, Spain, on 4/05/06 The document summarises the presentations and discussions which took place at the workshop.
Workshop 4 - Alston	This document outlines the proceedings of 4th workshop on rural broadband, which was held in Alston, UK The report summarises the discussion on community content issues that were presented.
Workshop 5 - Jihlava	This report records the discussions and presentations which took place at the A-BARD fifth workshop on “Building a Knowledge Region” which was held in Jihlava, Vysocina, Czech Republic on the 3rd October 2006
Workshop 6 - Brussels	This report records the discussions and presentations which took place at the A-BARD sixth and final workshop – “A-BARD European Broadband for Rural Development - Policy Briefing Workshop”, which was held in Brussels, Belgium on the 30th November 2006.