Consultation response: IT&Telecom companies' views on the parliamentary rural committee's final report, SOU 2017:01
IT&Telekomföretagen has been given the opportunity to submit a consultation response to the report SOU 2017:01 "For Sweden's rural areas - a coherent policy for work, sustainable growth and welfare" and focuses in this consultation response on the parliamentary rural committee's proposals in Chapter 3 "Digital communication and transport infrastructure".
Access to digital infrastructure for everyone in Sweden is a prerequisite for digitalization to reach its full potential. Ensuring a well-developed and future-proof digital infrastructure in all parts of the country is therefore a very urgent and central issue for Sweden and a prerequisite for good growth, a functioning and innovative business community and continued welfare - for everyone.
As society becomes more digitalized and societal information and services are only available digitally, the consequences of not having access to a good digital connection become more serious and the risk of exclusion greater. In addition to the availability of connectivity, the demand for network capacity is increasing rapidly, making it even more urgent to have a future-proof digital infrastructure in place in all parts of the country.
IT&Telecom companies consider the proposals in Chapter 3 to be good, with some minor reservations. Several of the proposals have also been addressed in the Government's broadband strategy, "Sweden fully connected 2025 - a broadband strategy", which was decided in December 2016 and which IT&Telecom companies have praised in several contexts for being clear and concrete, covering everyone in Sweden, being technology-neutral, and containing concrete measurable targets and a mobility target.