9.9.2008
Information society policy in Finland
Finland has dropped from 9 th place to 15 th place in eGovernment readiness (see page 38 http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/UN/UNPAN028607.pdf), so the question really is what is being done about it?
The first thing to do, I would argue, is to admit the decline, and create an action plan of corrective measures.
Unfortunately, this is not happening. A quick glimpse of some of the key web sites in Finland, will reveal no major concern and no corrective actions. Ficom, the Finnish Federation for Communications and Teleinformatics, continues to boast and see Finland as "one of world's leading countries in information and communications technology (ICT)" (http://www.ficom.fi/ict/index.html). The Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications has a collection of data (http://www.lvm.fi/web/en/14), but says nothing on how Finland compares with other countries in Europe, except for the fact that we have the cheapest mobile calls. Statistics Finland has some statistics on how Finland is doing as an information society (http://www.stat.fi/tup/tietoyhteiskunta/tilastotietoa_en.html).
The OECD has continued to search for ways to measure what impacts the informations society(http://www.oecd.org/department/0,3355,en_2649_34449_1_1_1_1_1,00.html). However it seems that from the OECD perspective Finland has become a not so interesting place
(http://www.oecd.org/topicdocumentlist/0,3448,en_33873108_33873360_1_1_1_1_37441,00.html).
Below the surface however, some things are beginning to happen.
In a recent column in Kauppalehti (1.9.2008), the local Finnish Financial daily, Harri Pursiainen, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Transport and Communications, pointed out that the local ministry has always been a friend of the operators, licensing conditions have not been too strict and e.g. frequencies have not been auctioned in Finland. Pursiainen hinted that this liberal policy might change, because operators are multinational and driven mainly by owner concerns and not by e.g. concerns of the customers, which include providing services to the rural areas. Instead of hinting I would expect to hear suggestions on how the policy would change and how these policy changes would better the Finns current competitive position as an information society.
An interesting sign of change is also the news that an Internet centre will be established at the Oulu University in co-operation with the Nokia company (unfortunately this press release is available only in Finnish http://www.oulu.fi/ajankohtaista/uutiset/2008B/Internet-tutkimuskeskus
