100Mb Broadband a Legal Right for all Finnish Citizens

**~~Eldritch~~** · 10-19-2009, 08:11 AM

The Finnish government has become the first in the world to make broadband internet access a legal right.

According to local reports, the Ministry of Transport and Communications in Helsinki has pushed through a law that will force telecommunications providers to offer high speed internet connections to all of the country's 5.3 million citizens.

The agreement means that by July next year, telecommunications companies will be obliged to provide all Finnish residents with broadband lines that can run at speeds of at least 1 megabit per second.

Finland is already one of the world's most connected countries, with 96% of citizens online - but the communications minister, Suvi Linden, said that the mandate was necessary in order to improve the availability of internet in Finland's remote rural areas.

Bringing high speed access to all would improve the quality of life in some of the country's most sparsely-populated regions, as well as boosting business and encouraging online banking, she added.

The Finnish government committed to provide universal service last year, but this week's move is the latest part of an ambitious project to upgrade the country's broadband infrastructure.

In an announcement in September, Ms Linden committed to making 100Mb internet access - one hundred times faster than the connections mandated under the current law - available to all Finnish residents by 2015.

Source: The Guardian (amazingly)

**Absinthe** · 10-19-2009, 09:33 AM

That's it, I'm moving!

**ikki** · 10-19-2009, 11:46 AM

That must be the reason for this mysterious letter sent by the ex-state interwebs company... offering to draw free cable, repair any damages and requiring nothing from the accepting houses.

This was some year and a half ago or some such.

**Lahtari** · 10-19-2009, 01:18 PM

You know what I think of "rights" that require forcing others for something. Or does anyone think that those companies will not take back the expenses by rising the connection fees, or by collecting tax subsidies as compensation? Well, this is what you get having the Centre Party (maiden name: Agrarian Union) in the government: life support and more life support for the peripheral areas that are no longer vital.

The thing is, we're still surfing with just a few Mb broadbands simply because there's not enough demand for higher speeds: most people are just content to read their news, pay their bills with internet bank and socialize with what we have. They would notice no difference if they had 100Mb or even 1000Mb lines. This will benefit mostly the freeloaders who will be able to download albums and even movies in a matter of minutes, which will give an excuse to further government control of the internet and subsidizing entertainment industry from connection fees.

I'm not a big fan of this belief that investing in technology will solve all our problems, like unemployment. For example, anyone ever thought that while this will allow for doing remote work from the countryside, but when remote work becomes more commonplace a company could as well hire a remote worker from India or China.