Welho, the largest cable operator in Finland, is launching a completely new range of broadband products in March. The dramatic speed increase puts Welho far ahead of its competitors in the market. The fastest of the new products is 200 Mbps, but Welho estimates that even the entry level service of 10 Mbps is faster than nearly 90 % of consumer broadband connections used in Finland.
The Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications has initiated a national plan of action to have 100 Mbps connections available for all citizens by 2015. Welho is launching new high-speed broadband connections already now.
"For us the speed is simply a means to an end. We are launching our new speed range because we want our cable customers to experience all the amazing and useful services on the Internet, like never before," says Johan Flykt, the President of Welho.
New types of services require increasingly more bandwidth
The rapidly growing number of laptops and other connectable home devices means a revolution in content distribution, as computer software, games, music and other content is increasingly moving to the internet. The same applies to TV programmes: already 40 % of Finns aged 15-64 who use the internet are watching content similar to TV programmes on the internet *) and 28 % of Finnish households watch full TV programmes on domestic TV broadcasters' catch-up sites **).
"The popularity of catch-up TV and online video viewing is growing fast, as well as the numbers of connected home devices. The new bandwidth-intensive services together with increasing simultaneous use of connected devices make it obvious that the consumers' demand for more bandwidth keeps rising. The launch of our completely new speed range ensures that our customers can enjoy digital entertainment in as high quality as it is meant to be. From now on these amazing experiences are certainly not a question of speed," Flykt says.
Welho will start the rollout of the new broadband offering in March, simultaneously ending new sales of present connections under 10 Mbps. Existing customers will, however, not be automatically upgraded to higher speeds.
*) Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (FICORA): publication 2/2010
**) Finnpanel Oy: TV households in Finland 2009
Welho is the largest cable TV operator in Finland, and a significant broadband service provider. Welho is a part of Sanoma Group's electronic media division, Sanoma Entertainment. www.welho.fi