[pp.int.general] Broadband rollout in Sweden continues

[Reinier Bakels]

> From my memory. The company (city controlled housing company in Stockholm) 
> that owns these houses have bad contracts with the Cable TV distributor 
> (25 year+ contracts). The Cable TV distributor owns the TV cables in the 
> houses and have a monopoly on what to show there. The monopoly and the 
> cost has been a problem for the housing company. So for a long time the 
> housing company have looked at building their own IP based network, based 
> on fiber to the home.

Curious. I thought that network owners under European telecommunication law 
("Open Network Provision") could be forced to open their networks. Also, 
there is a human rights issue: art. 10 ECHR not only warrants freedom of 
speech ("output"), but also freedom of information provision ("input"). This 
provision was already used in NL by a teacher in the English language who 
was not allowed to install a statellite dish (because it was considered 
ugly)(again, this is a long time ago).

> In that way the housing company can own the last mile and controll what 
> kind of services are delivered to the houses, lower their cost and perhaps 
> get a share of money from the service providers. (VoIP, Video On Demand, 
> Internet etc.)

Anyway, that is fortunate, because it is certainly superior technology over 
TV cables (coaxial). And perhaps it is nothing new: new houses used to be 
pre-wired with telephone cables.
>
> I might add that I was involved in a similar project in Holland in 2002, 
> it is mainly the low income, large housing complexes in the suburbs built 
> in the 1960-70's with a lot of immigrants were this is done. Everyone can 
> watch their home countries television channels without putting up 
> parabolic antennas on the balcony (which has been a problem in Sweden) and 
> it adds value to the houses as well.
>
I would be curious to know where this happened in Holland (because I live 
there).
There may be a political conflict. Satellite dishes in NL are often used by 
immigrants to watch Turkish or Moroccan television. While these dishes are 
ugly, some politicians may not like the idea that glass fiber will allow 
these people to watch foreign television, without anybody noticing it, and 
make it easier - because these people are supposed to integrate in our 
(Northern European) society, which would be hindered if they watch TV all 
the time of their native country. I don't know about other countries but the 
integration issue is politically very sensitive nowadays in NL (ever heard 
of Wilders?)

Needless to say, I would advocate freedom of information!

reinier