Rural Broadband - US & Finland

Note: I began my cultural project before the blog format and topics were introduced using the prompt in the syllabus. I have reformatted that project to be viewed in blog form and incorporated elements of topics 1 & 4. I am sorry this is only one post.

Introduction

     Pre-departure we were required to read the Wall Street Journal article Rural America Is Stranded in the Dial-Up Age. Summarily, the article describes the struggles of rural communities due to the lack of access to the internet. Rural communities are more likely to have slower speeds and with inconsistent coverage areas. The article points to several factors that contribute to this issue, most notably the lack of infrastructure and the economic feasibility of providing that infrastructure.


     We are now toward the conclusion of our studies in Finland and the issue the article brought up has stayed with me. The entire time we have been in Finland I have probably never been more than 50m away from broadband internet access, even on the train to Vaasa. Now, compare that to Zephyr, Texas, the town where my grandfather lives and where there is no wireless coverage at all. This ostensible technological discrepancy is the issue I would like to examine for my cultural project. In this post, I will comparatively examine the cultural and technological factors that affect internet access in the US and Finland.

The Internet in US & Finland – An Overview

     Anecdotal evidence suggests Finnish citizens are extremely satisfied with their level of coverage. Multiple employees at both ABB, in Vaasa, and Nokia, in Espoo, have stated they have strong, 4G-LTE connections, even in remote parts of the country. Almost 91% of Finnish people have some form of access to the internet, ranking 7th in the world. In the US, the percentage of people with internet access is 80.3%, ranking 28th in the world. The table below contains several basic statistics regarding internet/ mobile cellular access in the two countries

Country	Internet Access (%)	Internet Access Rank	Broadband Subscriptions (%)	Broadband Subscriptions Rank	Mobile Subscriptions (per 100)
USA	80.30%	28	28.20%	22	119
Finland	90.90%	7	30.38%	21	135

     It can be noted that, though Finland has a 10% higher internet access rate, the number of fixed broadband subscriptions is only 2% higher. This may be explained by the higher mobile subscription rate; there are 1.35 cell phone subscriptions per person in Finland. It could also be due to more access to free public internet or the country’s ‘Right to Access’ law (more on that later).To draw more accurate conclusions, more context is needed.

Cultural & Technological Comparison

     Technologically, Finland and the US do not differ much. They are both, at least for the most part, very developed countries. As shown above, the vast majority of both countries’ populations have access to the internet. 4G-LTE mobile data coverage is widespread. Despite this, a digital divide of information still exists in US rural communities.


     Finland is definitely not a small country, especially by European standards. It has a land area of over 338,000 sq. km. The US, however, is very, very big:

     The area of the US is 9.83 million sq. km; 32 times the size of Finland. To better frame it for y’all, Finland could fit into Texas twice. This size difference is important to keep in mind when comparing internet access in the two countries, from both a cultural and technological standpoint.

     Population and population density contribute as much to internet access as geographic size. The graph below gives a comparison of the population of the two countries and Texas.

     In population and in size, the US is much larger than Finland. The population density and related information is summarized in the following table.

Country	Population	Pop. Density	Rural Population	Rural population (%)
USA	316670000	32.21	46200000	14.59%
Finland	5270000	17.33	864600	16.41%

     Though the population density of the US is almost twice that of Finland, the rural population over the total population is roughly the same. The non-rural areas of the US have a much larger population density than the non-rural areas of Finland, therefore the rural population density of the US is much lower than that of Finland. In other words, the US has a lot more people spread out much further.

     This demonstrates a major issue for internet access reaching US rural communities. The WSJ article says it costs $30,000/mile ($18,750/km) to lay fiber optic line. The same amount fiber optic line is going reach more people in Finland, especially when considering the existing infrastructure already reaches a higher percentage of the population than the US. In the US, some companies try to make up for that cost inefficiency by raising the prices for rural consumer, whom may be unable to afford or refuse to pay that price. The ‘$99/month for unlimited data broadband internet’ figure mentioned in the article would be unheard of in Finland.

     Finland also has a Right to Access law, which, according to the Finnish Communications Regulatory Agency, says “everyone is entitled to obtain a reasonably priced and functioning telephone connection and at least 2 Mbps broadband to their permanent place of residence or place of business.” This is any easier guarantee to make in Finland than in the US, but this regulatory force does help deliver internet to the people of Finland.

Conclusion

     After critical examination, I discussed what I believe to be the most significant causes of the ‘digital divide’ in the US by comparing the US and Finland. The overwhelming size of the US and sparseness of rural US populations make it much less economically feasible to provide internet to those rural populations than in Finland. While existing solutions might have been successful in reaching the rural Finnish population, they have and will struggle to reach rural Americans. New solutions must be developed for the US. Innovation will be the key to providing internet access to all Americans.

Sources

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/xx.html

http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/Finland/United-States/Media

Right to a telephone and broadband subscription

Viestintävirasto - https://www.viestintavirasto.fi/en/internettelephone/righttoatelephoneandbroadbandsubscrip

Rural America Is Stranded in the Dial-Up Age

Jennifer Levitz-Valerie Bauerlein - https://www.wsj.com/articles/rural-america-is-stranded-in-the-dial-up-age-149753584