Good Practice - Project
Village Optical Fibre Network Cooperative of North-Western Kuhmo
A community broadband initiative delivered fast broadband access to hundreds of residents in a sparsely populated region of Kuhmo in eastern Finland.
General information
RDP Priority
- P6. Social inclusion and local development
Summary
A local cooperative benefitted from RDP support to deliver a fibre-optic broadband network to seven villages in north-western Kuhmo. The cooperative achieved buy-in from the wider community through local discussions on the potential benefits.
With the commitment of local people - who contributed time and machinery - the necessary investment was made in the construction of a fibre-optic network – mainly through earthworks. Simultaneously, negotiations by the cooperative led to the big national operator TeliaSonera being selected as a service provider and the north-western Kuhmo network was successfully connected.
Results
- Installation of 165 km of optical fibre network offering very fast 100 Mbps Internet and 1 Gbps Intranet data transfer speed.
- More than 200 of 270 households joined the network.
- The cooperative’s monthly rate of fast-speed internet connection is only €28 per household.
- Villagers improved their access to services, rural business and tele-work opportunities.
- The villagers learned that bottom-up initiatives and taking the future in their own hands can really make a difference.
Promoter
Village Optical Fibre Network Cooperative of North-Western Kuhmo
Funding
Total budget 1 884 000 (EUR)
EAFRD 627 372 (EUR)
National 766 788 (EUR)
Private 489 840 (EUR)
Resources
Documents
gp_fi_villagenetwork_web.pdf
(PDF – 895.92 KB)
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