[CAnet - news] Dutch and Swedes lead in municipal broadband networks

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[Many of the Dutch and Swedish municipal networks are dark fiber and open
conduit arrangements. In fact this approach was recommended by a Swedish
government committee some time ago. See for more details
http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/2025/a/18450;jsessionid=aQsm01zxyLW
Some excerpts from Lightreading article -- BSA]


http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=81543

Dutch, Swedes Rule Muni BB
SEPTEMBER 28, 2005

The U.S. is abuzz with talk of municipal networks, but Sweden and the
Netherlands have emerged as the biggest muni breeding grounds, and both are
far ahead of the rest of the world in numbers of working deployments. 

As municipally owned broadband networks are considered by cities around the
world, many are looking to the Dutch and the Scandinavians for success
stories and best practices. 

Van Eijk said 19 out of every 100 homes in the Netherlands, or 3.45 million
households, now have broadband connections. That puts the country second
only to Korea, where 25 homes per 100 are connected. Van Eijk said 600,000
Dutch businesses use broadband connections, too.

"We think we have the chance to be the leader in broadband in the next
couple of years, so we are acting now," Van Eijk said.

Many of the Netherlands' community broadband projects were made possible by
grant money from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

And Sweden isn't far behind the Netherlands. "There are 289 municipalities
in Sweden, and over 200 now have their own networks," said Lars Hedberg,
secretary general of the Swedish Urban Network Association (SSNF). Hedberg
says 29 of those networks have been linked together so far, and the rest
will be interconnected within 5 years.

SSNF is a non-profit trade organization in which 300 companies and
municipalities cooperate on municipal broadband deployments.

Bigersson believes some kinds of infrastructure, like broadband networks,
are better left to the ownership of government entities: "What I think the
Americans will learn is that there is such a thing as natural monopolies --
government systems where they can pay for an airport and write it off and
pay for it over 100 years. What private business can do that?"

Bigersson stressed that the emergence of new networks is the only way to
spark competition and hold broadband prices down. "When B2 launched service
in Sweden, the Swedish incumbent provider lowered its broadband price by 99
percent within 24 hours." (See B2 Picks Ericsson for VDSL2.)

Bigersson believes the dominance of cable MSO and telco broadband providers
in the U.S. has stifled innovation. "America is now where a lot of
[broadband services] companies want to be, but traditionally America has
been: 'You can put innovation in, but nothing comes out.'

		




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