IT&Telecom welcomes government broadband strategy
Today, Tuesday, November 3, Åsa Torstensson presented the government's new broadband strategy. "The decision to set the course for the expansion of broadband throughout Sweden is gratifying. However, one might think that this is a long time horizon, as 100 Mbit/s to 90% of households will not be in place until 2020. The opportunities to push this forward will depend on market conditions, government commitment and, to some extent, technological developments
Åsa Torstensson has announced a "broadband forum" to which the various market players will be invited. From the market side, we want to contribute to concrete and constructive discussions on how Sweden can get out of the starting blocks as soon as possible, speed up investments and give users better access. All of this is of great importance when it comes to ensuring Sweden's global competitiveness. With good conditions, powerful services - not least from the public sector and services that utilize public information - and cooperation between the state and the market in less densely populated areas, we will have good conditions.
We also welcome the fact that the government, at long last, intends to change the minimum level that will apply to the whole of Sweden. It is high time. However, we regret that the government has not yet chosen to put its foot down and join, for example, Finland's level of at least 1 Mbit/s to 100% of the population from July 2010. The Government notes that the Council on Globalization identifies digital infrastructure as a crucial success factor, and then the whole country must be included in this infrastructure.
IT&Telekomföretagen comments on the broadband strategy on dn.se 091103