Sweden to get 100Mbps broadband by 2020

The Swedish government has ramped up its plans to provide high-speed internet to its citizens.

Åsa Torstensson, the Swedish Minister for Communications, has announced a roll out 100Mbps broadband to 90 per cent of its population by 2020, with 40 per cent having it by 2015.

A strategy statement posted on the Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications website said: “It is important that Swedish businesses and households in all parts of the country are able to benefit from the opportunities that access to powerful broadband gives in order to change traditional working methods, enable development of new services and business models and new patterns of behaviour.”

It added: “All households and businesses should also have good opportunities to use electronic public services with broadband access. As more and more services in society become digital, everyone must be given the opportunity to be connected. Everyday life should run smoothly. It is, in essence, a matter of democracy and rights. “

However, it seems the country is facing similar problems to the UK with reaching out to rural areas.

“Although broadband access is generally good in Sweden, we still have thousands of households and enterprises with no access to broadband today," Torstensson was quoted as saying in an article by the Daily Telegraph.

“Sweden is a sparsely populated, elongated country... The need for broadband is as great in rural areas as in other parts of the country."

Earlier this year, the British government committed to the recommendation from Lord Carter’s Digital Britain report to make sure everyone in the UK has at least 2Mbps broadband by 2012.

However, controversy has risen over the 50 pence-a-month broadband tax proposed to pay for the scheme with both the Conservative Party and the chief executive of TalkTalk slamming the plans.

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