Finland has become the first country where broadband is considered a “legal right” of all its citizens, following the approval of a new law.  Besides meeting the announcement made by the Government, all Finns will have a connection of 100 Mbps by 2015. 

“We have considered the role that internet has in the day life of the citizens. Internet services are no longer used only for entertainment”, appointed the Communication Minister of Finland, Suvi Linden, in declarations made to the British broadcast BBC.

The new legislation binds all telecommunication companies to provide users from the 1st of July 2010 a minimum connection of 1 Mbps. “Finland has worked hard to develop an information society, but some years ago, we realized that not everyone had access to it,” said Linden. 

The efforts made by the Finish Government have given results, and currently 96% of the citizens have connected to the Network. In Spain, according to information from December 2009 of the Eurostat, only 51% of the homes have internet connection.

Countries like Britain and France prepare legislation to cut off access to those who use the Internet for downloading pirated content files. “We have adopted a policy in which operators will send warning letters to users who share illegal files but we do not plan to cut off the access”, added Linden.

Source: Europa Press