Majority of Swedes to have 100Mbps connections by 2020

The Swedish government has announced it plans to enable 90 per cent of its citizens to access broadband connection speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) by 2020.

The majority of Swedes have access to the internet, but current speeds are as low as 20 kilobits per second and the country's infrastructure minister Asa Torstensson said faster broadband speeds are becoming increasingly important.

Four in ten Swedish citizens will be able to access 100Mbps speeds within the next six years - potentially enabling them to use VoIP solutions more effectively - as the government responds to the increasing use of digital media and the development of two-way communication.

According to the Telegraph, Ms Torstensson said: "Although broadband access is generally good in Sweden, we still have thousands of households and enterprises with no access to broadband today."

The government in Finland recently declared broadband connections of 1Mbps to be a legal right for all Finnish citizens.

Virgin Media and BT are among the internet service providers investing in next-generation broadband in the UK.