New report highlights importance of municipalities in digitalization

Broadband Digital infrastructure

Of the 43 largest municipalities in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, Linköping and Västerås are at the top, followed by Kristiansand (Norway) as the best broadband municipalities according to a report by the analysis company Nexia. The report was presented by Nexia at a seminar at Telenor on November 26 where, among others, the Prime Minister Mehmet Kaplan, Anne-Marie Fransson, Director of IT&Telekomföretagen and Kajsa Frisell, business policy expert IT&Telekomföretagen participated.

The analysis company Nexia has, on behalf of the operator Telenor, for the second time investigated the extent to which the 43 largest Scandinavian municipalities offer e-services and facilitate the construction of the necessary IT infrastructure, both fixed and mobile. A number of parameters have been weighted together to form an index. The best of the Swedish municipalities is Linköping, closely followed by Västerås.

Kajsa Frisell, Industry policy expert IT&Telecom companies

- "The report clearly points to the key role municipalities have in helping to put the digital infrastructure in place," says Kajsa Frisell, industry policy expert in telecom at IT&Telecomföretagen, commenting on the report. "Only when all municipalities cooperate with the market players who want to invest in infrastructure and give them the conditions to build in a cost-effective and sustainable way will citizens be able to fully benefit from the opportunities of digitization.

- Linköping and Västerås have distinguished themselves by having a solid ICT strategy and a broad portfolio of digital services while actively planning the introduction of digital welfare services. Both municipalities cooperate well with network operators and understand the importance of network infrastructure to a greater extent than many other municipalities in Scandinavia," says Marit Wetterhus, Project Director at Nexia, who produced the report.

The report, Nordic Broadband City Index (NBCI), was first conducted in 2012 when the Norwegian municipality Asker came first followed by Stockholm. 2014 the picture has changed with two Swedish municipalities in the lead. Nexia has created the image of an "ideal municipality" with 10 points. The average for the municipalities covered by the NBCI is 5.3 points, which is an increase of 0.1 points since 2012.