Bridging the digital gap: These 7 striking European scaleups are working hard to provide super-fast wireless internet to everyone in the world

From dialling a phone number from wall-mounted rotary to Instagram, the world of telecommunication has evolved exorbitantly. With the technologies evolution, telecommunication is constantly changing, adapting, and moving ahead with every innovation and invention that tags along.

The invention of the Internet and smartphones have completely changed the way we communicate, do business and even the way we plan our lives. In a world in which businesses, government and citizens increasingly depend on Internet access and digital literacy to perform their activities, bad connectivity is not an option.

The gap between people and nations that can easily go online, with good quality bandwidth and those that don’t, the so-called digital divide, is a global issue and, with World Telecommunication and Information Society Day being celebrated on 17 May to raise awareness about the social and economic possibilities of Internet access, EIT Digital has decided to shine a spotlight on three EIT Digital Accelerator supported scaleups that are making a difference in this area.

Galgus (Spain)

Spanish company Galgus develops and markets a unique WiFi technology that is currently being used by numerous OEMs and system integrators worldwide to deliver high-performing WiFi networks.

Galgus, an EIT Digital Challenge winner in 2016, has developed and patented CHT (Cognitive Hotspot Technology), a multiplatform software that may be installed on a wide range of devices to optimize spectral efficiencies for WiFi routers and access points (APs).

CHT increases WiFi performance by up to 400% while reducing interference levels and power consumption, especially in high-user density environments.

Galgus’ technology can be used in a wide range of environments and have several applications: from ensuring fast and reliable in-flight WiFi connection with up to 5x performance improvement in the aviation sector to providing fast and stable wireless internet access for hotels, hospitals, and convention centres.

EasyBroadcast (France)

Based in Nantes, France, EasyBroadcast is another company which puts Internet access and optimisation at its core, in this case with a specific focus on optimising the streaming of audio and video content by broadcasters and over-the-top (OTT) players.

It does so by offering a patented solution for hybrid streaming of audio and video content, combining a standard client-server model and a peer-to-peer broadcast model. Each user, intelligently selected via geolocation and QoS (Quality of Service) matching algorithms, can thus act as a micro-server as soon as he receives segments of video or audio content.

With this technology bandwidth costs can be reduced by up to 75% for video content and up to 90% for audio content with a better quality of service. The scaleup was one of the winners of the 2018 edition of the EIT Digital Challenge.

RebelRoam (Estonia)

RebelRoam, an Estonian scaleup headquartered in Tallinn, currently works with major travel & transport companies such as Flixbus, Contiki and Uniworld Cruises to optimize wireless networks for over 3M connected passengers onboard coaches, trains and ferries in 38 European countries every month.

The scaleup’s main product is RebelRocket, an onboard Wi-Fi optimisation service that makes wireless networks less congested by filtering out unnecessary background activities and automatic updates and reducing bandwidth traffic by forcing videos to play in standard definition.

The result is improved WiFi speeds, more concurrent users, less data consumption and reduced cost for companies. RebelRoam joined the EIT Digital Accelerator in May 2018, to speed up its expansion across Europe’s transportation sectors. In June of the same year, it received the FTE Europe Award as the most innovative startup in air travel.

Gigaclear (UK)

Gigaclear is a private company dedicated to building and operating Ultrafast broadband networks based on pure fibre technology. Founded in December 2010 by Matthew Hare, the company has grown steadily ever since.

The company has covered over 22 counties across the South West, Midlands and South East of the UK, with the ambition to reach 500,000 premises by the end of 2024. Gigaclear Ltd is principally owned by Infracapital, a leading European Infrastructure Investor.

Linkem (Italy)

Based out of Rome, Linkem, the fastest growing broadband provider in Italy, is transforming the Italian broadband market by building and providing a high-value, ultrafast Fiber-To-The-Wireless broadband alternative. The company provides service to over 400,000 subscribers across its LTE-based, fixed wireless ultra-broadband network, utilizing its dedicated, nationwide 3.5 GHz spectrum. Presently Linkem’s network of more than 2,000 cell sites covers over 60% of the Italian population.

More than 800 resources are employed throughout Italy and operate in 6 locations – Milan, Florence, Rome, Bari, Taranto and Catania.

Aqua Comms (Ireland)

Aqua Comms is based in Dublin, Ireland, is the owner and operator of the transatlantic cable, America-Europe Connect (AEConnect), and the Irish Sea cable, CeltixConnect.

The company was established to build, acquire or merge with subsea fibre optic cable networks to provide capacity networking solutions to carriers, global data centres, financial services companies, global media, and cloud and content providers, including Web-scale providers and Over-the-Top (OTT) companies that require exceptional reliability and performance.

AEConnect, which spans more than 5,490 km across the Atlantic with stubbed branching units for future landings, provides secure, low latency and high capacity connectivity from New York to London via Dublin and beyond to greater Europe.

Cybercity A/S (Denmark)

Based out of Copenhagen, Cybercity is a broadband and telecommunications company, engages in the development, management, and sale of broadband solutions and network-based security and VPN products for private and corporate customers in Denmark. The company was acquired by Telenor Denmark back in 2005.

Stock photos from metamorworks/Shutterstock

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