Remote islands to get TV, internet access, Digital Minister Pappas tells regional conference

The government will fight the isolation of island residents by providing them with digital means to connect to the rest of Greece, Digital Policy, Telecoms and Informaton Minister Nikos Pappas said in his address on Monday at the Regional Development Conference for the South Aegean, held on the island of Rhodes.

Pappas announced that a draft law expected to be voted in Parliament shortly will expand satellite-linked access of all islands in the South Aegean to Greek television channels, and said over 1,500 villages had already been linked.

The government will also subsidize linking remote islands to the internet. The municipalities, he added, that had borne the brunt of the migration flows will also receive free WiFi access at open public spaces such as local squares.

The minister called on municipalities to digitize their services the soonest possible and said South Aegean schools will receive 2.5 million euros to fund desktop and laptop computers, servers, printers and scanners.