Award-winning broadband project connects villages on remote mountains in central Greece

·

The Sarantaporo.gr project began when a small group of young people, from the remote Thessaly mountains in central Greece, returned home to realise their village still had no internet access.

Telecom companies had no interest in investing to bring the necessary infrastructure there, so the group set out to create a wireless community network for almost 3,500 people in 12 isolated mountain villages.

The project works by collaborating with the local community of Thessaly to deploy the telecommunications infrastructure, provide digital literacy skills for local inhabitants and nurture and develop the community.

Since 2010, the project has provided 30 Mbps of symmetrical connectivity, with a 1 Gbps backhaul transferred wirelessly over the mountains from the University of Thessaly.

Run by volunteers and local champions, the project’s larger goals are to improve economic opportunities and quality of life for the area’s population, encouraging both the younger and older generations to stay.

The €156,000 project, which was nearly 60 percent funded by the EU, has been such a success that it also won a European Broadband Award in 2019.

When interviewed at the 2019 European Broadband Awards presentation ceremony, Vasileios Chrysos, Marketing Director of Sarantaporo.gr, said “the European Broadband Award is really significant for our community network.”

“It is a recognition that small organisations like ours really contribute in bridging the digital divide not only in our area, but also throughout Europe.”

Find out more about the Sarantaporo.gr project here.

Advertisement

Share:

KEEP UP TO DATE WITH TGH

By subscribing you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Advertisement

Latest News

Earlwood’s Greek spirit centre stage as ‘Plateia’ Festival secures state funding

The City of Canterbury Bankstown will host the “Love Earlwood” festival thanks to the NSW Government’s Open Streets 2025-28 Program.

Greek Consul General honoured at Hellenic Club farewell event in Sydney

Sydney’s Greek community came together on Thursday for a dignified farewell dinner in honour of Greece’s Consul General, Ioannis Mallikourtis

Field of candidates announced for 2025 Greek Community of Melbourne Board election

Greek Community of Melbourne has officially called elections for a new Board of Directors, with members set to head to the polls on June 29.

Australia Cup 2025: Strong Greek heritage club presence as Final 32 locked in

The cast for the Hahn Australia Cup 2025 Round of 32 has been decided following the completion of the Preliminary Rounds.

Apostolakis and Trimis named on Young Matildas squad for upcoming training camp

CommBank Young Matildas Head Coach Alex Epakis has settled on a 32-player squad for a domestic training camp to be held in Sydney.

You May Also Like

Three more LGA’s enter lockdown as NSW records 345 new local COVID-19 cases

Bayside, Burwood and Strathfield LGA's in NSW will be subjected to extra COVID-19 lockdown restrictions from 5pm today.

Randwick City and Waverley councils launch Float to Survive campaign

Randwick City and Waverley councils have joined forces to pilot a new water safety campaign aimed at reducing drownings in Australia. 

March 25th: A day commemorating history and religion

Every year, Greek Independence Day is celebrated on March 25th to honour the start of the Greek Revolution in 1821.