Digest of Business Index North. Connectivity in the North (2018-2020)

A PERIODIC REPORT WITH INSIGHT TO BUSINESS ACTIVITY AND OPPORTUNITIES IN THE ARCTI

Erlend Bullvеg, (Chair of the BIN Project Board), Nord University Business School, Norway,
Erlend.Bullvag@nord.no

Andrey Mineev, (BIN project coordinator), High North Center for Business, Nord University Business School, Norway, Andrey.Mineev@nord.no

© www.businessindexnorth.com

SYNCHROINFO JOURNAL. Volume 6, Number 6 (2020). P. 29-39.

Abstract

Due to the rapid development of economy, science and technology, the pace of life of people has accelerated and their standard of living has increased. At the same time, the number of various chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and chronic heart diseases, is increasing. These problems seriously affect people’s quality of life. Therefore, the problem of predicting cardiovascular diseases has become extremely urgent. The article compares several models for predicting heart disease and evaluates quality of their prognosis.
Business Index North (BIN) is a project that contributes to sustainable development and value creation in the Arctic. The overall goal is to set up a recurring, knowledge-based, systematic information tool for stakeholders. This is the second issue of the “Business Index North” analytical report that focuses on the BIN area, including ten northern regions of Norway (Finnmark, Troms, Nordland), Sweden (Norrbotten and Vдsterbotten), Finland (Lapland, Northern Ostrobothnia and Kainuu), and North-West Russia (Murmansk Region and Arkhangelsk Region without the Nenets Autonomous Okrug). For the third issue of the report we would like to include more territories of the Russian High North, as well as Alaska and the Northern territories of Canada. The main implementing partner is the High North Center for Business and Governance at Nord University Business School. Nordland County Council and The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs provide basic funding for the BIN project.
Chapter Connectivity
– Basic fixed broadband is available to 95% of households in the Nordic BIN regions and to 75% of households in the Russian BIN regions.
– The regions of Troms, Nordland (Norway) and Norrbotten (Sweden) lag behind their country averages in 100 Mbps fixed broadband availability by 8 percentage points and 7 percentage points respectively, while the Finnish regions of Northern Ostrobothnia, Kainuu and Lapland outperform Finland’s average by 8 percentage points.
– Mobile broadband coverage (3-4G) is good over all populated places in the BIN area. In terms of territorial coverage in 2016 the BIN regions in Norway had the best coverage lagging behind the national average by only 3 percentage points, Swedish BIN regions lagged behind by 14 percentage points and the Russian BIN regions lagged 21 percentage points behind their respective national averages.
– The BIN area has no direct connection to Europe and North America via subsea data cables. A number of landing points of data cables to Europe are on the coast of South Norway, South Sweden and South Finland. North-West Russia has one subsea data cable to Finland. Direct trans-Atlantic data traffic between Europe and North America proceeds through 12 submarine data cable systems landing in Denmark, UK, The Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain and Portugal.
This chapter covers the living conditions of people in the BIN area and business infrastructure in terms of access to fixed and mobile broadband. The results reveal common needs for broadband statistic information and make recommendations and highlight implications for policy-makers and investors. This chapter reveals that basic fixed broadband is available to 95% of households in the Nordic BIN regions and to 75% of households in the Russian BIN regions. The BIN regions in Norway and Sweden exhibit higher levels of fixed broadband availability than do the BIN regions in Finland, although the levels in these regions differ with respect to performance in comparison to the respective national levels in each case. Fixed broadband is affordable, with costs ranging from 1.6 to 3% of annual disposable income. When it comes to mobile broadband, 4G coverage with reliable backup of 3G is provided everywhere people live in all the BIN regions. Territory coverage is significantly lower than average for the BIN countries. Further, the BIN area has no direct connection to Europe, North America or Asia via subsea data cables. There are cable project initiatives, including Havfrue, Midgеrdsormen and Arctic Connect, which may directly affect the BIN area and play an enabling role in its development.

Keywords: Connectivity in the North, broadband, subsea data cables, Arctic region