Lars HedbergSecretary General
Swedish Urban Network Association
Lars HedbergKeynote speaker to the Digital Cities & Regional Networks conference
Background
A bio of Lars
Aims of Swedish Urban Network Association
References
Links
Lars Hedberg is the Secretary General, Founder, and former Chairman of the Swedish Urban Network Association, a leading non-profit trade organization working together to create an open access network, for municipal broadband deployment.
Companies involved in fibre optics installation in urban areas as well as metropolitan networks in greater Stockholm founded the Swedish Urban Network Association. Today, it is composed of more than 300 members - companies, Swedish universities, infrastructure providers such as Ericsson, Alcatel and Cisco and more than 150 metropolitan networks.
These are not all urban networks. Like New Zealand, Sweden has a large rural and farming population. Swedes living in rural areas are getting fibre laid to their farms and homes. Much of the installation in sparsely populated areas of Sweden is done by the local energy utility, which is owned by the municipality and represented by the Swedish Urban Network Association.
Lars Hedberg's keynote address will focus on how Sweden, as an urban and rural nation of 8 million people, has become one of the best connected nations in the world.
Municipal governments or municipal own companies in Sweden have invested approximately $ 3billion (US) in regional and local fibre networks with funding coming from Central government, EU and the municipalities themselves. Like New Zealand, Sweden has a large rural and farming population. Swedes living in rural areas are getting fibre laid to their farms and homes. Much of this roll-out in sparsely populated areas of Sweden is being undertaken by local energy utilities owned by the municipality.
There are 290 communities in Sweden and about 200 of them have an open access network, meaning that anyone can lease dark fibre or capacity on equal terms. These networks serve schools, healthcare centres, and local councils.
Although many fibre projects are supported by public funds, there are strict rules imposed by the European Union governing the use of the publicly funded networks. Access has to be wholesaled to commercial service providers on an open, non-discriminatory basis. The goal is simply to deploy an open network and seed the market based a public-private sector partnership model, which is the result in large part of strict EU rules governing the use of public funds for broadband infrastructure.
This preferred model ensures that private sector companies offer services across open access networks. It also provides a choice for the end user and in many instances, had pulled out of the business when more private companies began delivering access to residents and businesses.
Lars Hedberg was previously a board member and head of sales and marketing at Stokab, a leading city-owned dark fiber provider in Stockholm. Lars is a former telecoms engineer with the Royal Air Force, and a senior consultant for the Air Force telecommunications system with Enator AB.
Hedberg is a member of the Ministry of the Swedish Communications infrastructure advisory board, a member of the ITC international technical committee, and a board member of the Institute of Information and Technology.
Stockholm has one of the largest dark fibre networks in the world. It is also quickly becoming a major Internet eXchange point (IX), especially for the Nordic and Baltic countries, Eastern Europe, and even Asia.
http://www.ssnf.org
The aim of the Swedish Urban Network Association is to address:
How rural Sweden gets fibre to the home" I attended yesterday an inspiring talk given by Lars Hedberg, Secretary General of the Swedish Urban Network Association. The association was founded by companies involved in fiber optics installation in urban areas as well as metropolitan networks in the greater Stockholm.
Today, it is composed of more than 300 members - companies, organisation (KTH is a member along with other Swedish universities), more than 150 metropolitan networks represented connected and lots of infrastructure providers (such as Ericsson, Alcatel and Cisco).And it actually seems that Sweden has the power to concretize this ambitious vision. Stockholm, through Stokab has one of the largest dark fiber network in the world. It is also quickly becoming a major Internet eXchange point (IX), especially towards the Nordic and Baltic countries (cf. the BalticOpen.net project with a fully functional fiber connection between Sweden and Latvia), Eastern Europe, and even Asia (projected connection of China to the western backbone through Russia, Riga and then Stockholm).
http://www.phonifier.com/phonify.php?i=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fmuniwireless.com%2Fcommunity%2F765
A short video on how Swedes living in rural areas are getting fibre to
their farmhouses and homes. Much of the fiber to home deployments in
sparsely populated areas in Sweden are done by the local energy
utility, which is owned by the municipality. Although many fiber
projects are supported by public funds, there are strict rules imposed
by the European Union governing the use of the publicly funded
networks. Access has to be wholesaled to commercial service providers
on an open, non-discriminatory basis. This guarantees that there will
be private companies participating in the exploitation of the network
and also ensures that there is competition.
At the Brussels seminar, the city and utility representatives told us that they did not want to become service providers to the end user and that in many instances, had pulled out of the business when more private companies began delivering access to residents and businesses. Their goal is simply to deploy an open network and seed the market. This seems to be the preferred public-private partnership model in Sweden, in large part because of strict EU rules governing the use of public funds for broadband infrastructure.
Swedish Urban Network Association
www.ssnf.org
Opening up the last mile in Sweden
www.copere.net/ludovic/2004/09/ft.html
Hudiksvall Fibre optic Valley
www.fiberopticvalley.se/english/default.htm