Broadband Survey 2008 - PTS-ER-2009:8
20/05/2009
Broadband* is an important part of electronic infrastructure and the geographical mapping of access to broadband conducted by PTS shows that Sweden, in general, has a good supply and a relatively high level of capacity in the access networks. However, there are limitations in the access to the present infrastructure, which means that 4 400 households and businesses** currently lack basic prerequisites for broadband. However, this does not mean that all other households and businesses in Sweden can in practice gain access to broadband, rather it only signifies that broadband infrastructure is lacking in certain areas where there are businesses or residents. Both geographical factors, for example mountains or deep valleys which lead to radio shadow, as well as cost-related factors, such as digging and excavation work or the installation of equipment, also limit real potential in other locations. In addition, operators may lack capacity to receive more subscribers within a specific geographical area. This means that the access to broadband may be at a considerably lower level than the information concerning basic prerequisites for broadband suggests.
In PTS’s report entitled ‘Broadband Survey 2007’, an estimated 2 300 households and businesses completely lacked basic prerequisites for broadband. Based on information received from operators and network owners, the number of household and businesses nearly doubled over the course of one year. The increased numbers of those lacking broadband as identified between 2007 and 2008 may be explained by the fact that the information pertaining to wireless broadband in the Broadband Survey 2007 was based on forecast coverage. An assessment carried out in 2008 showed that the rollout plans for ‘mobile broadband’ via the wireless broadband access technology CDMA 2000 had not been fully realised.
* In this report, broadband is defined as technology which can enable a fixed connection to the Internet and having a transmission capacity (i.e., access level connection) amounting to at least 2 Mbits per second downstream, or which can be upgraded to the capacity stated.
** This corresponds to 2 500 households and 1 900 businesses. The definition of a household is in accordance with Statistics Sweden’s definition of a housekeeping unit. A housekeeping unit refers to persons living in the same dwelling and having a joint household.