The European Commission has started releasing funds for its Telematique programme intended to increase the use of advanced telecommunications services in under-developed markets. Ireland has been granted $8.6m from the European Research & Development Fund; other so-called Objective 1 regions – including Northern Ireland, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Southern Italy – are to receive their grants next year. Telematique is aimed particularly at getting small and medium-sized enterprises to use and provide some of the more advanced telecommunications services now available. The Irish telecommunications infrastructure has undergone considerable improvements since 1987, but take-up, according to the Commission’s DGXVI Regional Policy directorate, is still way behind that in other telecommunications markets. The Telematique programme in Ireland is focussing on developing viewdata-based services and on videoconferencing for telecommuting and education.
