All Entries Tagged With: "finnish"
Finland Officially Declares Broadband a Legal Right Today
A follow-up to our post last year regarding the Finnish push to make broadband a legal right, today’s the day in which this happens. That’s right — beginning today in Finland, access to at minimum 1 Mbps broadband must be available for every last one of Finland’s 5.3 million citizens, putting the right on pedestal nearby both education and health care.
But it doesn’t end there. The legislation requires that every citizen have access to 100 Mbps broadband by the year 2015 — which would most certainly satisfy many here in the United States.
“We considered the role of the internet in Finns everyday life. Internet services are no longer just for entertainment,” said Finnish Communications minister Suvi Linden.
At present, approximately 97% of Finnish citizens have access to broadband connections.
Nokia Planning one Linux-Based Phone for 2010
Struggling Nokia has made a somewhat impressive move that the Finnish company will only be releasing one Linux-based handset in 2010, reports Reuters. To some, this news comes as a huge surprise, considering that the Linux Maemo software for Nokia devices was expected to compete with Apple’s iPhone OS.
According to Nokia, the company is “fully committed” to the Symbian operating system.
“We remain firmly committed to Symbian as our smartphone platform of choice,” said a Nokia spokesman, who also stated that Nokia would not comment on future plans.
Nokia’s first Linux-based handset, the N900, made its debut earlier this month.
Nokia Recalls Over 14 Million Chargers
Today, Finland-based mobile giant Nokia announced a recall of over 14 million chargers which were manufactured between the dates of June 15th, 2009 to August 9th, 2009. “We have determined that the plastic covers of the affected chargers could come loose and separate, exposing the charger’s internal components and potentially posing an electric shock hazard if certain internal components are touched while the charger is plugged into a live socket,” said the Nokia notification.
Owners of the affected models (AC-3U, AC-3E, and AC-4U), which were made by BYD, are encouraged to trade their charger in for a free replacement. According to Nokia, this is being done at the country level to minimize delay.
Finland Guarantees Every Citizen The Right to Broadband with New Law
The Finnish government has just put in place a new law which guarantees every Finnish citizen (all 5.5 million of them) the right to high-speed internet access beginning on July 2010, according to the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The connection will be limited to one megabit at this point in time but the Finnish government plans to increase speeds to 100 megabits by the end of 2015 for all citizens.
This is feasible considering the taxation rate in that neck of the woods is extremely high. But my question is, when will good old Uncle Sam jump on the bandwagon for broadband access all over the US?
[ via TechCrunch ]
