The project will carry out strategic expansion of broadband in Värmland, where market conditions are lacking. The project concerns one municipality of the county’s 16 municipalities and provides 9 companies with the possibility of access to high-capacity broadband. In this project, which is the sixth of several, fibre expansion will take place to 2 sections. All routes granted are specified in the annex attached to the Decision. The result of the roll-out is a local interconnection/connection network that benefits the small and medium-sized enterprises located in the rural and sparsely populated areas of Karlstad and contributes to their opportunities for development and growth. The planned projects are expected to contribute to the overall objective of Värmland; that by 2020 all companies in Värmland should have access to broadband of at least 100 Mbps. The target is defined in Region Värmland’s Broadband Strategy 2013-2020 and in municipal broadband strategies. A better functioning broadband infrastructure benefits the industrial restructuring of the Värmland economy from goods-producing heavy industry to a modern industry with higher service content. Higher service content, as well as corporate involvement in global value chains, loosens the traditional gender segregation of the labour market, as service- and knowledge-intensive activities are also attractive to women (who have higher levels of education than men). Better functioning broadband infrastructure radically increases the chances of continued entrepreneurship and the establishment of new businesses. As many as 31 % of the new companies in Värmland are set up by women. Women start businesses in industries with a particularly pronounced dependence on well-functioning broadband in sparsely populated areas; commerce, local food production, nature, cultural and experience tourism, services and services. Värmland also has a relatively large proportion of environmental technology companies among its SMEs. A key prerequisite for their development is functioning high-capacity broadband, as these companies often work in conjunction with the larger companies and their global value chains. The project will have contributed to greater equality, by closing the gap in broadband access between urban and rural areas. It gives rural businesses and people equal opportunities to develop in line with the environment, which particularly affects people with reduced mobility or other obstacles.