Greater Helsinki area slightly ahead of the rest of Finland in internet subscriptions

The internet subscriptions in the Greater Helsinki area are more common and faster compared to the rest of the country. Similar differences can be seen between cities and other municipalities. In addition, the prices paid for internet subscriptions are lower in cities.

When examining the take-up of broadband subscriptions, clear differences between three different area entities can be seen in different municipalities. An internet subscription can be found in 95 per cent of the households in the Greater Helsinki area. Half of the users in the area use both a fixed and mobile connection. An internet connection was acquired to 89 per cent of the households, on the average. However, there are no significant differences in terms of the take-up of the subscriptions in cities with more and less than 50,000 inhabitants.

On the average, the take-up of the internet in other municipalities (i.e. other than cities) reaches 84 per cent. Fixed broadband connections are only used in every other household. Between provinces, Southern Savonia and Southern Karelia have the least amount of internet connections, on the average under 80 per cent.

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Figure 1. Take-up of mobile broadband connections.

The most common reason for not acquiring an internet subscription is that the users do not experience they need it or they can use the internet sufficiently outside the home. These are the reasons for not acquiring an internet subscription for 75 per cent of the households without an internet access. On the basis of the survey, there are no major differences in this, and excessive prices or the lack of supply are not significant reasons for not acquiring a subscription. On the other hand, the prices often seem to direct users to switching from a fixed broadband connection to a mobile broadband connection, in particular in smaller cities and municipalities where the threshold to switch to mobile broadband appear to be lower in other respects, too.

Every seventh internet user wants to have a faster connection

Less than two-thirds of the household users know how fast their connection is. On the basis of this, the connections in the Greater Helsinki area are faster compared to other cities. Respectively, the connections in other municipalities are slower compared to cities. In non-urban municipalities, 45 per cent of those who know their connection speed said that it is at least 10 Mbps. The corresponding share in the Greater Helsinki area is 70 per cent.

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Figure 2. Speeds submitted by the users with regard to their broadband connections (e.g. 2M = 2 - 9,99 Mbps and 100M = 100 Mbps or faster).

According to the survey, over 10 per cent of the users in cities need a subscription that is faster than the current subscription. In other municipalities the share was about 20 percent. A faster subscription would be used more for watching videos and television, which was more highlighted in non-urban municipalities. In other respects, there are no significant regional differences with regard to the purposes of use.

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Figure 3. The purposes of use for a faster connection.

An average monthly fee for a subscription is over 23 euros

Around 80 per cent of the household users knew the monthly fee of their broadband subscription. Regional differences are not very large in this comparison, although it should be noted that the price comparison does not directly take into account what type of connections are provided for the monthly fee. An average monthly fee in the Greater Helsinki area is slightly less than 23 euros and in other cities slightly more than that. According to the survey, an average monthly fee in other municipalities is slightly over 24 euros.

The observations are based on a previously published consumer survey. FICORA commissioned IRO Research Oy to carry out this survey in March–April 2014. For the survey, a total of 3,000 persons in the age group of 15–79 were interviewed by phone.

Key words: Internet, Availability, Broadband, Mobile broadband, Prices, Subscription, Reviews

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