TALLINN (AFP) — Estonia's government and telecom companies operating there announced on Friday a 283 million euro (374 million dollar) project to provide access to broadband Internet for all by 2015, a report said.

"If the railway was developed in the 19th century and the electrical grid in the 20th century, then the 21st century is the era of developing communication networks," Estonia's Minister of Economy and Communications Juhan Parts was quoted as saying by the Baltic News Service (BNS).

"The project makes it possible to quicken the economy and at the same time to create new jobs," he said.

Dubbed the EstWin project, the plan calls for the creation of a 100 megabit broadband network with access for all households and businesses across Estonia by 2015 in a bid to aid the development of the country, especially its rural areas.

Plans call for a 6,640-kilometre network of fibre-optic cable to be created in the initial phase of the project.

All major Estonian telecom companies will be involved in the project which is to be co-funded by the European Union.

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