Kiuru: Missing broadband in urban areas slow down digitalisation development

Ministry of Transport and Communications
Publication date 5.3.2015 13.50
News item
Minister of Education and Communications Krista Kiuru (Photo: Ministry of Transport and Communications)
Minister of Education and Communications Krista Kiuru (Photo: Ministry of Transport and Communications)

Finland must not fall into a "mobile pit"; secure fixed broadband connections must be available everywhere, emphasised Minister of Education and Communications Krista Kiuru in a conversation on 5 March 2015 as she visited the optical fibre project of a local cooperative in Pitäjänmäki, Helsinki.

- Optical fibre building has not progressed constantly or in the way it was hoped in the areas that fall between dense population centres and sparsely populated areas that are supported with public funds. These often old residential areas house about 60-65% of Finns, says Minister of Education and Communications Krista Kiuru.

- Nevertheless, it is very important to create a dialogue on how to speed up the market. The matter is not merely about a few homes and residents being able to use internet TV. It is about the digitalisation development of the whole society. For example, services being moved to the internet, increasing telework and businesses operating from home all require high-speed and above all reliable telecommunications, stresses Minister Kiuru.