“Internet for all”
There’s been some fuss recently about telecom giant Telia cutting its copper telecoms network to large swathes of northern Sweden. Critics of Telia suggest that, by 2026, thousands of Norrlanders will be left without telecommunications and broadband services. Many Norrland Living readers live in remote areas, so we’re naturally concerned. Now, obviously, as we approach a general election, there’s a current of political hysteria pulsing through our civic discourse which distorts what’s really happening. However, it is very important that the expansion of broadband and mobile networks in sparsely populated areas of Norrland is adequately financed. After all, Sweden, for all its social progressivism and tradition of being forward-thinking, is not immune from political outbreaks of populism, as evidenced by the far-right Sweden Democrats still attracting just shy of 18% of the electorate in recent opinion polls. Many will just blame immigration. But there is another issue festering in the background driving people to vote for the far right. That issue is the digital divide. The regions most affected by the digital divide are those provincial areas whose workforce and communities are not only without mobile and broadband networks but are those most impacted by automation and e-commerce. These people are being left behind. And, as we have seen with the successes of Brexit and the far right in Poland and Hungary, people that feel excluded turn to extreme politics. We need to be including and educating people in the digital economy, not abandoning them. The recent fuss about Telia’s plans may be driven by politicking but that doesn’t mean we should ignore the fundamental issue. Everyone in Norrland should have access to a mobile network and decent broadband. We should consider it a basic right.
