On 20-21 February 2020, the first Regional Workshop of the EaP and the World Bank on broadband infrastructure mapping took place at the headquarters of the Polish Regulator – the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE) in Warsaw.
The workshop organised for representatives of the Eastern partner countries shared knowledge on the “hows” and “whats” of broadband infrastructure mapping. Country representatives from the national policymakers and regulatory authorities also provided information on their mapping objectives. This will inform the ongoing technical assistance of the World Bank Group as part of the EU4Digital programme.
Experts from UKE, the Main Office of Geodesy and Cartography, and Orange Polska provided insights into how Poland maps its broadband infrastructure. They covered the legal framework and the type of reported data on infrastructure and services, and provided examples of specific tools for processing the collected information.
Meetings among representatives of the EaP countries, the World Bank Group team, and experts from the UKE helped define avenues of further cooperation.
The workshop was attended by representatives of six Eastern partner countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, the chair and co-chair of one of the three expert working groups of EaPeReg – Independent Regulators and Broadband Expert Working Group (IRB EWG) and representatives of the World Bank and the Portuguese regulator ANACOM.