Government’s commissioner: Hungary at forefront of digital revolution

Hungary will be the first European Union country in which every household, by the end of 2018, will have access to internet speeds of at least 30 Mbit/s, and, as the country starts to roll out 5G services, Hungary also has the world’s third most advanced mobile network, the government’s commissioner for digital developments has said.

From 2020 Hungary expects to be among the world’s first to introduce 5G services, Deutsch said, speaking at the 28th Baile Tusnad (Tusnádfürdő) summer university, in central Romania, on Thursday.

Deutsch noted that as part of an expanding government scheme called Digital Welfare, VAT on internet use will be cut from 18 percent to 5 percent, making Hungary the EU country with the lowest such VAT rate. Overall internet charges are expected to fall by up to 20 percent, he said.

As part of the scheme large, medium-sized and small businesses will next week sign contracts as part of a deal with UPC on making access to the internet as much as 35 percent cheaper from January compared with last December.

Also, from 2019 onwards every Hungarian town and village will have at least one publicly available free broadband WiFi service as part of a European Commission scheme dubbed Wifi4EU, he said.

Source: MTI