Broadband News
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Broadband for all: lessons from Finland
21 Oct 2009 | 13.30 Europe/London
While British politicians wrangle over the legal meaning of words like “obligation” and “commitment”, the Finns are simply getting on with the job.
As samknows reported last week, Finland has decided to make broadband a “legal right”. As of 1 July 2010 1 Mbps internet connection will be defined as a universal service in Finland; in other words, telecom operators must be able to provide, upon request, every permanent residence and business office with access to a reasonably priced and high-quality connection with a downstream rate of at least 1 Mbit/s.
What this means in practise is that new legislation will be drawn up, and by the end of the year the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (FICORA) will decide which telecom operators will be required to fulfil the universal service obligation (USO).
These service providers may decide on the technology they wish to use for the service. Some variation will be allowed in the universal service connection speed to make it possible to provide services over mobile networks, as an alternative to fixed line solutions like ADSL. Rather than simply stating a headline speed for the broadband service, the authorities are specifying performance, as follows:
FICORA will be responsible for monitoring compliance with these performance parameters, as well as making sure that tariffs are affordable, said the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications.
But who will pay? Right now, it appears that Finnish service providers will have to foot the bill for the country’s broadband USO. In its policy document from September 2008, the Ministry of Transport and Communications in Finland determined that “no distinct public funding would be required for broadband universal service.”
There is a certain logic behind this: although service providers will incur costs in meeting the broadband USO, they will also gain financial benefit, in terms of new customers and increased market presence.
This approach isn't new either. In the UK, BT is required to provide a universal telephone service without funding from government. However, other countries, such as France and Italy, have “universal service funds” into which all communications providers pay a contribution, which is then dished out for providing services to uneconomical customers.
As samknows reported last week, Finland has decided to make broadband a “legal right”. As of 1 July 2010 1 Mbps internet connection will be defined as a universal service in Finland; in other words, telecom operators must be able to provide, upon request, every permanent residence and business office with access to a reasonably priced and high-quality connection with a downstream rate of at least 1 Mbit/s.
What this means in practise is that new legislation will be drawn up, and by the end of the year the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (FICORA) will decide which telecom operators will be required to fulfil the universal service obligation (USO).
These service providers may decide on the technology they wish to use for the service. Some variation will be allowed in the universal service connection speed to make it possible to provide services over mobile networks, as an alternative to fixed line solutions like ADSL. Rather than simply stating a headline speed for the broadband service, the authorities are specifying performance, as follows:
The average speed of downstream traffic must be at least 75 percent of the required speed in a measuring period of 24 hours. In a four-hour measuring period the speed must be at least 59 percent of the required speed.
FICORA will be responsible for monitoring compliance with these performance parameters, as well as making sure that tariffs are affordable, said the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications.
But who will pay? Right now, it appears that Finnish service providers will have to foot the bill for the country’s broadband USO. In its policy document from September 2008, the Ministry of Transport and Communications in Finland determined that “no distinct public funding would be required for broadband universal service.”
There is a certain logic behind this: although service providers will incur costs in meeting the broadband USO, they will also gain financial benefit, in terms of new customers and increased market presence.
This approach isn't new either. In the UK, BT is required to provide a universal telephone service without funding from government. However, other countries, such as France and Italy, have “universal service funds” into which all communications providers pay a contribution, which is then dished out for providing services to uneconomical customers.