Intelligent engineering solutions company FIMA signed an agreement with the Lithuanian Ministry of Communications and the public institution Plačiajuostis internetas on further broadband expansion, which is a new phase of the Lithuanian broadband internet development project RAIN-2. In one year FIMA's specialists will build about one thousand kilometres of fibre-optic cable in the country's remote areas, making high-speed internet accessible to even more people living in Lithuania's rural areas.

"It is very important that the RAIN-2 project aims to address the problem of the digital divide between the country's urban and rural areas. I am convinced that evenly developed advanced infrastructure is one of the vital objectives when it comes to speeding up development of the knowledge and information society in Lithuania. This is a key prerequisite for ensuring people's access to the numerous resources of electronic content and for successful and competitive business," Lithuanian Minister of Communications, Rimantas Sinkevičius, said.
Once the planned work on RAIN-2 is complete, broadband coverage is expected to reach almost 99 per cent of the Lithuanian population.

"This is the country's strategic project, which aims to improve accessibility for people in remote rural areas to state-of-the-art information technology resources. The new phase of RAIN-2 covers as many as 180 locations, which means a great amount of work to be completed within ambitious deadlines. Since it's not our first year in the project, we are quite aware of the specifics and have the required project management and work implementation experience," FIMA's director of Telecommunications Solutions, Vaidotas Černiauskas, said.

According to Vytautas Tvaronavičius, Technology and Development Manager of Plačiajuostis internetas and RAIN-2 coordinator, the broadband network already covers most of Lithuania and its infrastructure extends for 8,000 kilometres. Once the new phase of RAIN-2 is completed, high-speed internet will be available to 950 rural settlements.

The project "Development of Rural Area Information Technology Broadband Network" (RAIN-2) aims to ensure access for citizens, public bodies and local authorities as well as businesses to broadband services on the territories of the country's rural areas. Lithuanian efforts and contributions to developing and implementing this project have earned recognition and appreciation from the European Commission.

The Ministry of Communications together with Plačiajuostis internetas started the RAIN-2 project back in December 2009. The total value of the project is EUR 61 million. Almost 85 per cent of its value is financed from EU funds. The project is scheduled to end on 31 December 2014.