Finland became the first country in the world to make high-speed broadband access a legal right of every citizen with the new law set to come into effect from July next year.

Under the new Law, citizens of the country will be entitled to atleast one Mbps broadband access which the government plans to increase to 100 Mbps by 2015.

The government reasons that the move is aimed making broadband services reach the rural and interiors of the country. “We think [the internet is] something you cannot live without in modern society," said Laura Vikkonen, a spokesman for the Ministry of Communications, Finland. "Universal service is every citizen's subjective right,” she added.

Following this move service providers in the country will have to start rolling out services in such areas.

With the new Law, Finland overtakes France which too had acknowledged that internet access is every citizen’s right. But Finland becomes the first country to have actually constituted a Law for this and making broadband services a legal right as compared to France making it a human right.

Finland already has a high rate of broadband penetration with more than 95 % of its 5.2 million population subscribing to internet services.