Information and Communication Infrastructure as an Important Tool for Developing the Three Seas Initiative
Information and Communication Infrastructure as an Important Tool for Developing the Three Seas Initiative

Summary/Abstract: In the scientific literature in the field of regional economy and economic policy, the subject of the so-called Three Seas is often taken up. It is most often indicated that this area covers 12 countries located between three seas: the Adriatic, the Baltic, and the Black Sea. The need to accelerate the development of this structure is often indicated by expanding the Three Seas Infrastructure, especially energy, transport and information and communication infrastructure. The present article focuses on the latter one. The considerations based on literature analysis allow us to assume that for the assessment of modern information and communication infrastructure a special role is played by the following criteria: the degree of country coverage with fixed broadband networks, the availability of modern mobile networks in the LTE standard, and the speed of data download in fixed and mobile networks. To carry out a comparative assessment of the information and communication infrastructure of the Three Seas countries according to these criteria, the authors used the data presented by the statistical offices of these countries and the data of international telecommunications organisations. The assessment of the information and communication infrastructure of the Three Seas countries based on these criteria indicates qualitative discrepancies of these infrastructures, which is not supporting a suitable socio-economic development rate of this structure. Therefore, an important task is to reduce the discrepancies observed in the studied area. According to the authors, this will primarily require: – Further expansion of modern telecommunications fixed broadband networks, – Further migration of fixed-line operators’ networks of mobile operators’ networks towards the IP standard.

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