dependent on blanket coverage through affordable access to high-speed Internet infrastructure and the services provided on it. In a number of areas attractive to investors the construction of these networks is and will be implemented through investor activities in the regular commercial environment. Mapping results to date show that no next generation access network exists in a sufficient scope or quality in some areas, nor is it probable that market entities will implement it in the coming years. Such areas are not sufficiently economically attractive from the perspective of potential investors, and therefore we cannot expect classic market mechanisms to operate in them. To introduce a high-speed Internet infrastructure in these areas, targeted investment support from public funds will have to be secured. The National Plan will develop not only the State Policy in Electronic Communications in relation to modern digital infrastructure, i.e. to NGNs, but will also fulfil the so-called ex-ante conditionality 2.2, which is – according to European legislation2 - an essential prerequisite for the implementation of specific objective 4.1 of the Operational Programme Enterprise and Innovation for Competitiveness 2014-2020 (the “OP EIC”) entitled “Increase Broadband Internet Access Coverage”. The OP EIC was approved by Government Resolution of 14 July 2014 No 581 and by the European Commission through Decision K(2015) 3039 of 29 April 2015. Approximately EUR 521 million is allocated for specific objective 4.1 of the OP EIC, respectively for the Support Programme “High-Speed Internet” The activities of specific objective 4.1 of the OP EIC comprise in particular the modernisation of existing networks or the construction of new networks in order to meet the parameters of Next Generation Access Networks (NGAs) in localities that were identified through mapping as areas where market mechanisms cannot be relied upon. Without public aid, investments options would have been limited for various reasons. The main objective of the National Plan is, through specific tools and measures, to support an increase in the availability of quality, reliable and high-speed Internet access in such a way that this access can be enjoyed by all households in the Czech Republic for all available services, including the collaborative consumption3 or the sharing economy. The construction of NGNs is anticipated both through investment from the private sector and also public aid, to ensure that by 2020 all citizens will have the option to access high-speed Internet (faster than 30 Mbit/s), and that at least half of households will have an option to obtain an Internet connection with 100 Mbit/s speed. At the same time, the way is paved for a connection speed of at least one order of magnitude higher. At the same time, it is necessary to remove identified barriers during the planning and construction of NGNs, in particular by reducing the administrative burden and financial costs. These barriers lie in the area of planning permission proceedings in relation to the preparation, construction and use of the networks; and also the financial costs for 2 Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 3 The term “collaborative consumption” is used to describe an economic model based on sharing, swapping, lending or renting products, in contrast to owning them. The sharing economy is a subset of collaborative consumption. 6