Finns are hoping that universal high-speed Internet access will be even more awesome than a full rainbow.
Back in 2009, Finland announced what might be the world’s most ambitious national broadband plan: a guaranteed minimum service level of 1Mbps for all homes and companies by 2010. That goal is then planned to be kicked up to 100Mbps, served via a fixed connection or wireless, by 2015 (Google Translate).
Three years into the program, Finnish government officials say they are well on the road to meeting that goal by providing subsidies mainly to local cooperatives that have sprung up to serve rural communities. To date, 86 percent of the 5.35 million Finnish population lives within two kilometers of a 100Mbps connection, and the expectation is that this will grow to 95 percent by 2015. By that definition, it looks like Finland will come very close to meeting its goal. (Finnish households are expected to pay for that final connection to the home, should they want the full 100Mbps fiber service.)
“I am confident. There is no reason why we [can’t meet this goal],” Juha Parantainen, the Vice Chair of the National Broadband Advisory Committee, told Ars. The Finnish government is expected to release a second interim evaluation in 2013.
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