Broadband universal service
Broadband universal service, also known as "universal service obligation" (USO) or "universal broadband service", refers to government efforts to ensure all citizens have access to the internet. Universal voice service obligations have been expanded to include broadband service obligations in Switzerland, Finland, Spain and the UK. Universal service obligations are required because of the technical limitations of data transport in traditional telephone lines, particularly for connections located miles away from exchanges. FTTH deployment is increasingly a component of meeting universal service obligations, for example, the United Arab Emirates has not introduced a USO as all premises in the country have access to FTTH and are thus capable of very high connection speeds. Switzerland was the first country in the world to provide broadband universal service in January 2008, followed by Spain and Finland each guaranteeing 1 Mbit/s. The UK followed by announcing a universal service obligation of 10 Mbit/s in 2020 for every home in Britain. Taiwan started broadband universal service in 2007. The USA has proposed measures that would make broadband available to all citizens, but under pressure from telecommunications companies, has not implemented them. Background The term universal service was introduced in the early twentieth century. In many countries, such as the UK, United States, and Taiwan, voice telephony services have had subsidies for rural or poor customers. Although broadband has a technical meaning, in public policy discussions it means Internet access at higher rates than obsolete dial-up Internet access. Broadband overview Faster and more widely available broadband is considered an important opportunity to improve education, communication, and public participation in civic affairs. U.S. President Barack Obama mentioned: "one key to strengthening education, entrepreneurship, and innovation in communities… is to harness the full power of the Internet, and that means faster and more widely available broadband." (Obama, 2009) The government claimed widespread broadband access is critical for global competitiveness, economic development, national security, public safety, job creation, civic engagement, etc. Digital divide One of the main goals to have universal broadband service is to narrow the digital divide ("digital split"). Digital divide refers to "the differing amount of information between those who have access to the Internet (specially broadband access) and those who do not have access. The term became popular among concerned parties, such as scholars, policy makers, and advocacy groups, in the late 1990s." Digital divide is not just about the access to the Internet, but the quality of connection, and the related service availability. Implementation Switzerland Switzerland was the first country in the world to provide broadband universal service with download/upload 600/100 kbit/s dataspeed to its citizens in January 2008, Finland In 2009, the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications announced a decree which required a 1Mb Internet connection to be included in universal service mandates in 2010. Therefore, Finland became the first country in the world to establish broadband universal service, albeit at a basic speed, as a general right of citizens. Spain Spain guarantees 1 Mbit/s. United Kingdom In 2009, the UK announced