A new Finnish regulation that makes access to broadband services a basic right for the entire population came into force on Thursday.

Changes in universal service obligations come into force; country home to 2.47 million broadband connections at end-2009, 46% of which offer 2 Mbps or more.

"New universal service obligations for telecoms operators will take effect [at] the beginning of July," Finland's Ministry of Transport and Communications reminded the country earlier this week.

"From now on a reasonable priced broadband connection will be everyone's basic right in Finland," said Suvi Linden, Minister of Communications, in a statement.

Broadband is defined as an Internet service with a minimum downlink speed of 1 Mbps. The minister did not specify what would be classed as a reasonable price.

The new USOs, which were included in last year's amendment to the Communications Market Act, apply to the 26 telecoms operators defined by market regulator the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (FICORA) as universal service operators. FICORA will be responsible for ensuring that the operators adhere to their obligations.

According to FICORA's latest market report, 68% of Finnish households had an Internet connection at the end of 2009, 95% of which were broadband.

At the same date, the total number of broadband connections in the country numbered 2.47 million, over 900,000 of which were classified as either mobile or wireless. TeliaSonera took the lead in terms of connections during 2009, raising its market share by two percentage points to 32% and leapfrogging rival Elisa, which claimed 31% of the market after an on-year decline of two percentage points. The regulator said "the greatest changes in market shares were due to changes in mobile broadband volumes".

Many Finns already have access to broadband services faster than 1 Mbps.

FICORA reported that at the end of 2009, 46% of the country's broadband connections had a connection speed of 2 Mbps or higher, 10% reached 10 Mbps or higher, and around 1% had a 100 Mbps or higher connection. Excluding mobile, the figures rise to 61% for 2 Mbps, 16% for 10 Mbps, and close to 2% for 100 Mbps or higher.

Mary Lennighan, Total Telecom