This is a continuation of previous three ERDF projects on broadband expansion in Dalarna. The project aims to co-finance fibre to identified areas where permits are not expected to be extended on a commercial basis within three years. This is to provide small and medium-sized companies in the areas conditions for modern high-speed communication mainly via fibre. The project also improves the conditions for radio-based communication in the areas (4/G and the like). The preconditions for both running a company, living and working in a number of areas in Dalarna are adversely affected by the lack of access to broadband with high transmission speed (continually called ¿fiber¿i this application). There is no market incentive for building fibre in the relevant areas. The reasons for this can vary from case to case. Central, however, is that the cost is too high in relation to the estimated revenue. A typical explanation is that the number of potential customers in the area is too small for a network owner to engage on purely market terms. If nothing is done, companies in these areas risk worse growth and, in the worst case, the conditions for remaining can become so bad that you are forced to move the business. Another circumstance that has affected many people in Dalarna is that telecom operators close down telecom stations. The result is that entrepreneurs and residents not only lack fiber but also lose their existing opportunities for broadband via xDSL. As the basic problem lies in the profitability calculations for these areas, one needs to look at the whole. In this context, companies form a subset of all potential customers. Although housing is not the primary target group of the project, it is also important for the project to be economically sustainable in the long term. As a result of this situation, society needs to act to ensure the opportunities to run companies, live and operate in these areas. The project ¿fiber expansion in Dalarna 2018-2020 round 3¿is the fourth since 2015 (ERUF 1, ERUF 1.5, ERUF 2 and now ERUF 3). It is a direct continuation of the work to make Dalarna a modern and attractive environment to work in for, among other things, small- and medium-sized companies. The project is well anchored in the county’s collaboration body Brodbandsforum Dalarna, where all municipalities participate. The work is conducted according to the ¿Dala model¿, which is based on two pillars: Part 1. Coordinated development planning. The Office of Digital Dalarna together with the municipalities maps which areas need to be fibreed and how this can happen. It also shows where the market works so far that there is already – or expected to be built – fibre. Part 2. Coherent approach for financing both fibre up to the areas as well as fibre in the area (area network). In practice, the ERDF funds are used to co-finance the localised fibres up to the area, while the Rural Development Programme in turn contributes with funding of the area network itself where this is needed. In this way, ERUF and the Rural Development Programme work together and strengthen each other. This is expected to be the penultimate of five expansion projects.