User:Cameron Franks/sandbox

Finland has excellent communications, and is considered one of the most advanced information societies in the world.

Finland’s Telecommunications market is currently the most developed in Europe and is leading as one of the most developed markets in the world. In 1985, Finland liberalized its economy, allowing the communications market to be opened up allowing for public telecommunications services with unrestricted subscriptions.

Present-day Telecommunications in Finland include landline telephones, mobile phones, radio, internet, television and previously, telegraphy, available in the form of semaphore lines or optical telegraphs.

Telephone
Telephones – main lines in use: 1,250,000 (2009)

Telephones – mobile cellular: 8,390,000 (2009)

Telephone system: General Assessment: Modern system with excellent service.

Landline (household) systems have shown a vast decline in popularity amongst Finnish residents. In 2004, the amount of main lines in use was 2,368,000 (now 1,250,000). To further show this decline, in 1997 there were 2,861,000 main lines in use in Finland. In relation to this decline, the amount of mobile phones has rising sharply within the past few years. Also in 2004, the amount of mobile cellular phones was 4,988,000 amongst Finnish residents (now 8,390,000). In 1997, the amount of mobile cellular phones was 2,162,574.

The rise of amounts of mobile cellular phones compared to the decline of landline phones is an extremely common trend amongst most countries in recent years and is not only specific to Finland or Europe.

Domestic: Digital fiber-optic fixed-line network and an extensive cellular network provide domestic needs. There are three major cellular network providers with independent networks (Elisa Oyj, Sonera and DNA Oy). There are several smaller providers which may have independent networks in smaller areas, but are generally dependent on rented networks. There is a great variety of cellular providers and contracts, and competition is particularly fierce.

International: Country code – 358; 1 submarine cable (Finland Estonia Connection); satellite earth stations – access to Intelsat transmission service via a Swedish satellite earth station, 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions); note – Finland shares the Inmarsat earth station with the other Nordic countries (Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden).

Television
Television broadcast stations: 551 (120 originating stations, 431 re-transmitters)

For Finnish residents aged 10 and up, an average of 2 hours and 47 minutes of television is watched per day (2007). This amount makes it the most popular pastime for Finnish residents in terms of time use. This amount of viewing has increased by appoximately 30 minutes since 1994.

In 2001, the first digital broadcast was aired. By 2007, all of Finland had switched over to digital broadcasting making Finland one of the first countries to do so.

In 2003, Finland placed 46th on the rankings of amount of Televisions per country with 3,200,000.

There is a national public radio and television company Yleisradio (Yle), which is funded by television license fees, and two major private media companies, Alma Media and Sanoma, with national TV channels. Yle maintains four TV channels YLE1, YLE2, Teema and FST5. There are four commercial, national channels: Alma Media has MTV3 and SubTV, and Sanoma has Nelonen and JIM. There are also a lot of pay-TV channels. News Corporation introduced itself to the market in 2012 with the Fox channel, which was preceded by Finnish-owned SuomiTV.

The cost of a television license in 2009 was reported to be 216 euros per year, which equals to be under 60 cents per day. This is the least expensive fee in Scandinavia and other Nordic countries.

Radio
Radio broadcast stations: 6AM 2, FM 186, shortwave 1 (1998)

Internet
Internet country code: .fi

Internet hosts: 4,763,000 as of 2012.

Internet users: 4,480,900 as of 2010, 85.3% of the population, according to the ITU.

Reported 78% of Finnish men and women aged 16-74 used the internet daily as of 2012.

Online shopping rates increased from 2011 to 2012 by 4%, up to 47% of Finnish men and women making online purchases monthly. Most online purchases included tourism services, admissions and tickets, clothing and footwear.

Social networking is also very popular in Finland; over 50% of Finnish residents aged 16-74 follow and/or actively use a social networking service such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. The rise in social networking for Finnish residents has shown a trend of approximately 4% per year.