January 25 (SeeNews) - The European Commission said on Thursday it decided to refer Bulgaria to the Court of Justice of the EU for delay in transposing EU rules for more efficient deployment of new physical infrastructure so that the broadband networks can be rolled out at lower cost.
The Commission said in a statement it is calling on the Court to impose a penalty payment of 22,226.40 euro ($27,605) per day on Bulgaria.
Bulgaria had to transpose the Broadband Cost Reduction directive into national law by 1 January 2016. The infringement proceeding against Bulgaria was opened in March 2016 and a reasoned opinion was sent in September 2016.
The country has not yet notified the Commission about all the measures necessary to transpose the directive into national law.
Civil engineering, such as the digging-up of roads to lay down high-speed broadband, accounts for up to 80% of the cost of deploying broadband networks, the Commission noted.
($=0.8051 euro)