Computing and Internet Diffusion in Finland

Finland has a high degree of computing and internet diffusion into all aspects of society, business and government. The degree of diffusion and sustained growth is consistent with Finland's long term vision of transforming itself into an "information society".

Computers

Presently, only about 39 percent of Finnish homes have computers.(50) Overall, however, Finland has a total of approximately 2,200,000 PCs, for a total of 423.5 PCs per 1000 population. On this basis, Finland ranks sixth amongst all European nations for PCs, falling behind Sweden, Luxembourg, Norway, Switzerland and Denmark, respectively. Europe as a whole has 179.4 PCs per thousand, a figure less than half that of Finland. (6)

The Internet

Within the private sector, 91% of Finnish businesses with more than ten employees have connections to the internet, with a total of 60% having webpages. The former number represents a first-place ranking amongst all European nations (7).

Within society in general, Finland has amongst the highest number of computers per capita connected to the Internet in the world. Finland has a total of 2,235,300 Internet users, for a total of 430.3 users per 1000 population. These numbers indicate that 43% of Finns use the internet on an annual basis, with a total of 60% of the population having access to the internet. By contrast, the Europe as a whole has a total 180.5 internet users per 1000 population. Finland, therefore, ranks sixth in Europe, behind Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands, respectively, in total internet users per thousand. (6). While Finland has dozens of ISPs that service its "netizens", the current trend with ISPs is towards consolidation - by 1999 the combined market share of the three largest service providers (Sonera/Inet, HTC/Finnet/Kolumbus and Saunalahden Serveri) to private customers had exceeded 80%(49).

An additional trend mentioned above is that while most Finns have access to the internet (60% through some means (5)), only a relative few (less than 21% (50) have the capability to actually do so from home. Most Finns who do so utilize traditional dial-up (modem) methods, with only 3% of Finnish households having a high-speed internet connection (ISDN or better 50). This in spite of the fact that Finland has amongst the lowest average internet connection costs in the industrial world (51).

Finland has a total of 886,916 internet hosts, resulting in a figure of 171 hosts per 1000 population. In this, Finland places second, behind Iceland, and well ahead of the whole European per 1000 population figure of 19. (6)