Last week, Finland's new law of making relatively low-cost
Internet access a basic right went into effect.
That means all of Finland - even though the overwhelming majority of
Finns are online already - will have a minimum of one megabit per second
available at a "reasonable cost" of 30 to 40 euros ($37 to $50) per
month. This speed requirement is expected to go up to 100 megabits per
second by 2015.
However, many other European Union countries are hoping to follow
suit. Sweden, along with the United Kingdom, France and Spain are among
several that have pledged in general to get their populations online,
but have done little to make it happen.
European politicans call for more access
Christian Engstrom, a Swedish member of the European Parliament hopes
his home country moves quickly to catch up to its Scandinavian
neighbor.
"It's an admission that the internet is an important part of society,
it's not just a toy for the kids," he told Deutsche Welle. "It's a
fundamental part of infrastructure. And I think that signal is a very
important one."
Engstrom himself is a computer programmer and member of Sweden's
Pirate Party, a young, tech-savvy group that won its two seats in June
2009.
But it's more than just digerati politicians who are calling for more
broadband access.
Belgium, Germany are farthest behind
In March 2010, Analysys Mason, a British consulting firm, released a
study on the state of competition in the European telecoms sector. The
European Competitive Telecoms Authority (ECTA) used that study to
suggest that European governments are hurting themselves by not
embracing the digital world more wholeheartedly and rapidly. The study
showed that improving broadband access throughout the European Union
would provide 1.1 million new jobs and a GDP increase of 850 billion
euros by 2015.
However, according to Ilsa Godlovitch, ECTA's director, one of the
big holdups is that governments must end the traditional monopolies of
telecom markets. She said Scandinavia once again leads the way in this
area, but that the United Kingdom and France have also encouraged more
competition in their telecom markets, ending up with more choice and
lower prices for consumers. Glaring examples of where this isn't
happening are Belgium and Germany.
"It is an important objective for everybody to have broadband access,
more important than to protect a national champion like Deutsche
Telekom," she said. "We really do hope the German government will look
at the success of broadband in the Scandinavian countries, for example,
and will pursue a more open approach in the future rather than
protecting the interests of the national incumbent."
Internet users skeptical
Jacqueline Santos, a Brussels internet cafe user agrees. She pointed
out that if the European Union actually made good on some of these
promises to get low-cost internet access for everyone, then she wouldn't
be at the internet cafe, spending one euro per hour to get online.
"You can't live without if you want to be well informed," she said.
Author: Teri Schultz
Editor: Cyrus Farivar
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5764207,00.html
