Spain mandates affordable broadband for all

Spanish officials said earlier this week that the government will require service providers to offer broadband with speeds of at least 1 Mbps at regulated rates to residents living anywhere in the country.

A frenzy over a new Sony Ericsson smartphone at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last February.

(Credit: Marguerite Reardon/CNET )

The Spanish telecommunications minister issued a statement Tuesday declaring that broadband would be added to the country's so-called "universal service," which guarantees reasonably priced telephone service to citizens, Reuters reported. The goal is to offer affordable broadband with speeds of at least 1 Mbps to residents by 2011.

To achieve this goal the Spanish government will require any service provider that gets universal service funds to also include broadband services to any home as part of its service.

Last month, Finland's minister of communications announced a similar plan. By July 1, 2010, every person in Finland will have the right to a 1 Mbps connection.

While the 1Mbps speeds don't sound like much, Spanish and Finnish officials say it's just the beginning. They hope this speed will serve as a starting point. And they believe that network operators will increase speeds over time.

Finland has already established aggressive public policies in place to encourage more ubiquitous and faster broadband deployments. In 2008, the Finnish government said it would pay a third of the cost to wire the country with fiber by 2015.

These mandates come at a time when the U.S. Federal Communications Commission is drafting a national broadband policy that outlines a plan for policies to help provide universal broadband to every American. The plan will be presented to Congress in February 2010.

In a report this week to the FCC, the task force working on the national broadband policy highlighted several barriers to universal broadband, including problems with the U.S. Universal Service Fund. But taking action to change the system is difficult.

The U.S. Universal Service Fund subsidizes the cost of building telephone infrastructure throughout the country in places where it is too expensive to deploy such services. Much of the money from this fund, which is collected from consumers as part of their monthly phone bills, is still being used to subsidize regular telephony service. Many policy makers and government officials say the program needs to be revised to include broadband. And the funding mechanism also needs to be revised.

While many consumer advocates believe the U.S. government should take a more active role in directing policy in way similar to what is happening in Finland and Spain, it's important to note that the U.S. is a much larger country by population and geography than either of these countries. To put it in context, Finland has about 5.3 million residents, compared to more than 300 million people who live in the U.S.

Developing and funding universal broadband access in the U.S. will cost anywhere between $20 billion and $350 billion, according to government estimates. That said, establishing a clear policy road map could help pave the way to truly affordable high speed Internet access everywhere in the U.S.

[Mergatroid Mania]

Good for them.

[kewell82]

I think the US should just invest the stimulus money into making our national infrastructure up to speed. They have wasted so much of the stimulus money on supposedly saving/creating jobs that don't exist. It would be such an amazing advantage in the long run if we investing in upgrading our infrastructure now.

[redmarine]

I love how we Europeans are getting so fast internet connections. :D<br /><br />Soon Google Chrome OS might actually be a viable option here since everyone pretty much can have internet connections.

[Chameleon81]

O2 couldnt provime broadband connection to me just 800 meters away from canary wharf. Orange was able to but then they gave us 0.2 Mb for a month instead of 10.

[Ebeale]

Don't give our spineless president any more Taxing ideas.

[ecotopian--2008]

What is truly spineless is the lack of political will and imagination to see that universal broadband, not to mention healthcare, benefits the entire society, in turn creating a better economy and more opportunities for everyone. When the rich only take, but do not give back, we end up with the dismal. mean-spirited socioeconomic environment we have today in the USA.

[Forked_Tongue]

You have to earn it to get it, why do the parasites of society even get a consideration? It's not my fault that I studied and didn't party thru highschool and college, in fact both sides are reaping what they sown. What the main problem is why should they get any of my hard earned money when they didn't provide me any kind of service? I worked for what I have, why can't they instead of having government demanded hand outs?

[AtomicFluffchick]

Forked_Tongue, there is NOTHING parasitic about the people who are currently being left out of broadband. One of my closest friends is stuck on dial-up because she lives far enough out in the country that the telephone company has flat-out refused to upgrade the lines, and the cable companies have refused to provide service to that area. As sites become less and less dial-up friendly, she's been genuinely considering dropping her internet use altogether, which will be socially devastating for her because she's in a remote enough area that most of her friends are ONLINE friends. None of the satellite internet services are currently providing installations in her area. She is perfectly willing and able to pay for these services, but she's being denied them because of her location. This is happening to people all over the country, who are becoming second-class citizens in the information age strictly because they DON'T live in cities.<br /><br />I don't think the government is saying that people should be able to get it for free... but for people to be unable to get it at ALL, even when you can and will pay for it, is insane.

[Noneyabeeswax]

I really wish someone would come along and start up a BB provider company that goes everywhere and juat knock the rest of them on their butts. The quest for obscene amounts of profits by ISPs is what is holding back broadband in the US. They're not satisfied with just making money they want to wring the last bit of blood they can get out of everyone.

[AtomicFluffchick]

Forked_Tongue, are you counting all of the people who live in remote rural areas, whose phone service providers have refused to upgrade their phone lines and whose nearest cable companies refuse to extend their lines out to them, as parasites? They're trapped on dial-up, even if they can and would like to pay for something faster. And as more sites become dial-up-unfriendly, they're unable to keep up with the internet at all.<br /><br />One of my closest friends is stuck on dial-up, and the number of sites that will actually load for her has dropped to almost zero, to the point where she may have to just give up the internet altogether because it's barely usable. It's not her fault that she "studied and didn't party thru highschool and college" either, only to end up a second-class citizen of the information age because of geography. People who live out in the country need high-speed internet even more than those in more urban areas, because hey, there aren't exactly libraries or internet cafes around the corner from them. And they're willing/able to pay for it, too! IF someone will just make it accessible to them already. That's what needs to be fixed.<br /><br />The issue is about getting the connectivity in place, not making it free... or at least, that's what my friend's issue is as the Information Superhighway drives off without her.

[AtomicFluffchick]

Sorry, I got an error message on my first comment and reposted, thinking it hadn't gone through. I didn't mean to spam the discussion.

[Frogman800]

Socialism at work my friends. A legal right? Are you friggin kidding me? Is having a newspaper a legal right? Having a TV? A radio? A toothbrush? No, they are not surprisingly while broadband is. Did they wake up stupid or are they grown that way? <br /><br />Not everyone wants internet. Those that do can get basic packages and pay a lower fee, like 20E/month and those that want fast-fast pay and get. So what is the big deal? The have nots are jealous of the haves, so the government has to step in to help their babes. <br /><br />Sorry for the tirade, it just seems like we are becoming a Nation, a World, of big babies who wants mama government to wipe their noses for them. Sad state of affairs.