Finland to Consider Government Funding for NGN
While on the other side of the Atlantic voices are calling for governmental support to uplift broadband figures, Finland is yet another European country to publicly consider the government funding of NGNs. The cost of the investment would be EUR 200 million, of which the state would pay up to a third, municipalities, regions and the EU another third, and telecommunications companies at least one third. Under the model, the public support would be paid to the builders of the networks.
However, public money is not on offer for subscriber connections – that is, the two last kilometres. Bringing 100 Mb fibre optic, or radio link connections all the way to people’s homes would raise the costs by EUR 480-780 million. Connections between homes and the optical fibre network are expected to involve the traditional copper cables or wireless connections. Speeds of both copper and wireless connections are expected to increase considerably in the coming years to dozens of megabits a second.
Nevertheless, this is a historic decision since the Finnish government has traditionally avoided active involvement and preferred to let market forces to lead industry development. As said by Eselinen, Frank and Hirvonen in “Does strategy matter? A comparison of broadband rollout policies in Finland and Sweden“:
Nevertheless, this is a historic decision since the Finnish government has traditionally avoided active involvement and preferred to let market forces to lead industry development. As said by Eselinen, Frank and Hirvonen in “Does strategy matter? A comparison of broadband rollout policies in Finland and Sweden“:
The Finnish broadband strategy proposal, published in December 2003 reflects the legacy of the general Finnish telecommunications policy. In contrast to its Swedish counterpart, it relies on market forces and emphasizes technological neutrality. According to its operational aims, by the end of 2005 the household penetration rate of broadband should be 40%, all citizens should have access to high-speed, easy-to-use and affordable data transfer, and Finland should be among the leading European countries measured by communication network demand and accessibility. These aims were pursued by means of 50 action points, putting most emphasis on measures promoting competition in the broadband markets, the provision of services and content in the networks, and strengthening the demand for broadband. The proposal also included action points for low-demand areas. These included recommendations for creating regional strategies for broadband deployment, increasing competition in local markets, and providing schools and libraries with public broadband connections. However, no government funding for broadband infrastructure investments was made available, which was against widespread expectations partly fuelled by the Swedish policy model.
Read more in “State support proposed for high-speed broadband“.
