The European Commission presented the OMEGA research project, that uses light to help achieve higher broadband speeds. According to the Commission, the technology developed by the OMEGA project could ensure that every office and household has enough bandwidth to connect a range of "smart" objects to each other like phones, cars and domestic appliances.

The OMEGA project, which is an EU-funded research project and it is run by researchers from companies, universities and research institutions in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Slovenia and the United Kingdom, was presented by the European Commission. This project has created a system for higher broadband speeds that can connect many more devices in the home. The EU provided €12.41 million of a total budget of €19.13 million. In September 2010, the Commission presented three complementary measures adopted in order to facilitate the roll out and take up of fast and ultra-fast broadband in the Union.

Industry is now ready to produce devices based on a standard (IEEE P1905.1) launched thanks to the OMEGA project. Using visible and infrared light –similar to that of a TV remote control– the researchers were able to transmit data at up to 280 Mbps over a distance of 10 metres. The data was transferred in two directions between multiple devices, thus creating an infrared network. In a world first, the project team sent data using LED ceiling lighting, increasingly common in many homes.

The Commission stressed that combining this technology with, for example, radio transmission, could result in much higher broadband speeds for consumers. It could also have other advantages when used alone, as this kind of technology, known as Visible Light Communication causes less radio interference because the signal is contained within one room. This would be particularly beneficial for use in, for example, hospitals or production plants, where a radio transmission network is either not permitted or where it interferes with the functioning of some equipment.