The Multilevel Governance of State Aid for Broadband Diffusion: Evidence from Three European Countries

Abstract

This paper explores multilevel governance (MLG) in the context of state aid programmes for the diffusion of broadband in the European Union. By comparing three EU Member States (Italy, Spain and the UK), the qualitative analysis illustrates how MLG affects both the implementation of public interventions and the reduction of regional inequalities in the access to broadband. The analysis suggests that a distributed and shared governance is potentially beneficial for the implementation of state aid programmes, but its application is constrained by idiosyncrasies in the structure of the public and private sector.