Reasonable requirement to make calls in rural areas

Tomas Mörtsell (C), municipal councillor in Storuman municipality, writes in the SvD debate that it must be possible to make phone calls in sparsely populated areas. A very reasonable demand: of course, it should also be a matter of course for those who live outside our cities to be able to reach emergency services, call family and friends and pay their bills online. A future-proof digital infrastructure that can be relied on throughout the country is now a prerequisite for all of us to fully benefit from the opportunities of digitization - and to be able to take part in the public services we need.

I also agree with Tomas that the government has a great responsibility to ensure digital and social inclusion throughout Sweden, not least in less densely populated areas. It is not until all citizens have access to a good connection and thus a good opportunity to communicate that we can fully benefit from the opportunities of digitization. This means that a clear and proactive policy direction from the government, which creates the conditions for digitization, is strongly requested.

Not least, it is now high time for the government to present an updated broadband strategy that clearly addresses the issue of a future-proof digital infrastructure for all citizens in Sweden. And since in many places mobile solutions are the most realistic way to provide access to high-speed broadband, I expect the upcoming broadband strategy to include a mobility target. A mobility target would be an important signal from society, and serve as a motivation for public actors to engage in broadband deployment. It would also be a good way of getting municipalities to take mobile networks into account in their municipal broadband strategies, which would create better conditions for market players to roll out mobile networks.

I am glad that Tomas thinks that the market has done a good job in building out the mobile network in Sweden so far, and I agree that there are more reasons than a weak market why some areas still have a poor mobile rollout. In areas where commercial rollout is unprofitable, the government could consider whether funds from spectrum auctions could be funded and used to procure broadband rollout. In this way, the operators' very large investments in spectrum could be returned to the sector, to meet the demand for mobile broadband in areas where commercial deployment does not reach. Setting coverage requirements is an alternative way to get broadband in these places, but a prerequisite is that funds may be reserved for deployment instead of being paid as auction proceeds, and that the conditions of the condition are otherwise transparent and predictable before allocation.

Like Tomas, we see that part of the solution to the problems of patches without mobile coverage is to seize the opportunity of the expansion of the 700 MHz band, which will be auctioned off during the autumn by the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS). A stated goal of the auction of the 700 MHz band, which is scheduled to start on 1 December, is precisely to improve mobile coverage in areas where there are currently shortcomings. In order for people to be able to both live and run businesses outside the cities, it is therefore necessary that as much of the 700 MHz band as possible is made available to improve access to digital services throughout Sweden.

Tomas Mörtsell asks who is responsible for the consequences if the emergency signal does not even go through when someone is in a remote location in our country. Like Tomas, I see that much depends on the government now taking a great and clear responsibility for digitization and mobile issues, and that in that work they see the great value in utilizing both the knowledge and the investments the telecom industry is more than happy to contribute!