B2 - a long-term approach to provide broadband for everybody

B2 stands for bi-directional broadband and is the young Swedish company Bredbandsbolaget AB (http://www.bredband.com). The plan is to build a €700 million broadband network including services like video-on-demand, IP telephony, video telephony, advanced answering services to name a few. Bredbandsbolaget is initially targeting the Million Project districts in the suburbs, rather than detached houses in high-income municipalities.

Christina Truuberg, new Sales Director at Bredbandsbolaget: "Broadband is definitely the route we have to follow. Naturally, we Swedes will be at the forefront in this field too, just as we are when it comes to mobile telephony!" and "Bredbandsbolaget's network is bi-directional. This entails something totally different from either cable television networks or the telephone network. Here, it can just as easily be the consumers themselves who are doing the filming!"

How does it work?

Bredbandsbolaget builds a LAN (Local Area Network) into a property. All apartments are equipped with an Ethernet socket. An Ethernet switch is located in a suitable position on the premises from which connections are subsequently made to the public Internet via the optical fibre networks that are available in most towns. If new technology with higher capacity is introduced the sockets and switches can be replaced to immediately upgrade to the latest advances. The network in itself has no "built-in" limitations. Some figures: - Bandwidth in: Approx. 10 Mbps/two-way- Bandwidth out: 10 Mbps- Demands a network card- No modem- Accepted standard: Ethernet- Upgrade: up to 100 Mbps, soon up to 1000 Mbps- Pricing model: €23 per month

Mr. Birgersson, Chairman of Bredbandsbolaget (B2): "A broadband connection in every man's home is no less than a ‘democratization' of the new technology. Each apartment will be able to broadcast its own Web-tv or to start an Internet portal. That is the speed of this type of Internet connection."