The Universal Services Directive of 2002 requires that people have access to telecoms networks that can operate phone and basic internet services. They must be able to use this network to access emergency services, directory enquiries and special measures if they are disabled.
The Commission has said that it will revise the universal service demands and could include in them the right to broadband internet connections.
"Wide broadband coverage is crucial to foster growth and jobs in Europe. But 23% of people in rural areas do not have access to fixed broadband networks," said a Commission statement. "Should universal service principles help to reach the EU's goal of 'broadband for all', or would competition on the open telecoms market or other policy options be more effective?"
The Commission has asked telecoms users, the industry and experts to participate in a consultation on whether the obligations should be extended.
"New networks are deployed largely on a commercial basis, which generally follows the geographic and income-related distribution of computers in households and businesses," said its consultation document. "The cost per customer of supplying fixed broadband networks in rural and remote areas is therefore significantly higher than in more urbanised areas."
"While fixed broadband networks covered on average almost 93% of Europeans at the end of 2008, this figure was close to 98% in urban areas but only 77% in rural areas," it said. "Many online applications and services, such as e-business, e-health and e-learning, require certain minimum broadband speeds. However, while the vast majority of European broadband subscribers (over 80%) now have at least a 2 Mbp/s connection and can therefore benefit from the most common online services, there are again big differences between Member States as well as between urban and rural areas."
The Commission said, though, that respondents to its consultation should bear in mind that fixed-line connections are no longer the only way to receive a broadband connection and that wireless technology can be a cheaper way to extend broadband to rural locations than wire-line networks.
"The release of spectrum resulting from the switch-off of analogue TV services (the digital dividend) opens the significant prospect of widespread roll-out of mobile and other wireless broadband services, which can in particular benefit remote or inaccessible areas of the Union not covered by legacy copper networks, as well as some of the newer Member States where fixed penetration has been historically low," it said.
The consultation will also cover the issue of how any broadband-coverage requirement should be funded.
"Should there be a financial contribution from the telecoms sector to ensure universal broadband coverage, or should the public purse intervene since other sectors of the economy and society as a whole also feel the benefits?" the Commission asked in a statement.
The UK Government has pledged to ensure that everyone in the UK has access to broadband services by 2012. It has pledged £200 million of public money to achieve that aim.
It plans to create a wider geographical spread of access to superfast broadband and fund that through an additional tax on the users of existing telecoms services. It will levy a 50p per month tax on all phone lines to pay for that extension.
A Committee of MPs last week criticised those plans and the use of the tax to pay for them. It said that the Government should focus on already-existing, cheaper plans to increase the public's engagement with digital networks.
"[The] levy would be both regressive and poorly targeted. It would have a much greater impact on the less well-off who will pay for an enhanced service which only a minority will enjoy," said a report by the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee. "If public funds are required for Next Generation Access, they should be raised through general taxation, in the same way as for any other national infrastructure programme."
"Greater attention and resources should be given to digital inclusion which delivers proven social and economic benefits to the individual and the cost saving benefits to the Government," it said.
The Commission said that it was time to revise the rules set in 2002. "As markets and technology are changing fast, we have to make sure that nobody is excluded from the digital society," said Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes. "This consultation will help us to check if we need to update the rules to ensure that all EU citizens have access to essential communication services, including fast internet."
The consultation closes on 7th May.