“The VAT on internet access will be reduced to 5 percent from 1 January 2018, according to the 2017-2018 schedule of the Digital Prosperity Programme (DPP)”, Prime Ministerial Commissioner for the DPP, Tamás Deutsch said in Budapest.

At the opening ceremony of the Evolution – Two days of Online Evolution conference, he added: “The wide-ranging professional and social debate on the Programme, which has been developed with the help of over a hundred experts, will occur during the new 2-3 months, and it is expected to be adopted by the government before the summer”.

Of the dozens of important element included in the Programme, which has been upgraded with several new elements, the Commissioner highlighted: “The reduction in VAT could lead to a further 15 percent reduction in ADSL and mobile internet access, in view of the fact that this year’s VAT reduction from 27 percent to 18 percent has lived up to expectations and prices have fallen”.

“Another element of the Programme is that in late 2017 or early 2018 we would also like to provide a software package within the framework of the basic digital prosperity package, but not exclusively of people who are eligible for it. The primarily open source, or open source-based software will be available free via the organisation that operates the basic package, Digital Prosperity Non-profit Ltd.”, he explained.

Mr. Deutsch said that the Hungarian mobile internet network is currently the world’s 3rd most highly developed. Based on this technological capability, the government plans to establish the 5G coalition sometime during the summer, which could make Hungary one of the European centres of 5G development. The activities of the 5G coalition is linked to the test track for the testing of self-driven vehicles, which is being developed in Zalaegerszeg, and which will be the headquarters for the sector’s research & development.

Another important element of the DPP will be the examination of the questions that arise as a result of the possibility of a sharing economy. The fifth most important element is the digitalization of cultural heritage and making the digitalized elements freely available, with relation to which the strategy for the digitalization of public collections has already been drawn up.

According to Mr. Deutsch, the Digital Prosperity Programme is a success, which is the result of trust-based cooperation between the government and the organisations and private sector participants involved. Hungary is seeing robust network development: the superfast internet program will be completed two years in advance and will mean that every household in Hungary will have access to 30 megabit (Mbps) internet by the end of 2018. From May, every service provider will also be offering the basic digital package, which provides basic access at a price that is 15 percent cheaper than the cheapest available internet package. As part of the Wi-Fi development programme, by the end of 2018 every settlement in Hungary will have at least one public space of institution that offers free Wi-FI, which is already available in around a thousand towns and villages.

“The DPP is aimed at assuring that the underdevelopment of digital networks of financial difficulties should not exclude anyone from being a part of the digital world”, he highlighted.

(MTI)