Page 11 - Sphere No.27 (Sep 2010)

9
Sphere
3 brings modern data communications to remote Scandinavia
By Robin Lynam
those areas can be two noteworthy beneficiaries,
as has been established in Sweden where pioneer-
ing work in telemedicine has been conducted. A
patient in Gällivare in northern Sweden who is
suffering from a haemorrhage, for example, can
be X-rayed at the local hospital then diagnosed
by specialists at the university hospital in Umeå,
more than 500 km away.
Students in remote communities can attend
high school and university classes in real time
without having to leave their friends and families
for weeks at a time to do so.
Perhaps the most tangible contribution 3 is
making, though, is to sustain the economies of
these countries by helping to maintain or enhance
the viability of businesses that previously had no
effective data communications links.
These can now send and receive data much
more quickly, effectively and flexibly, vastly
improving communications between staff and
service suppliers, and making it possible to reach
whole new groups of potential customers, and to
respond quickly to them.
Now Hutchison, too, is beginning to see a
return on the substantial investment it has made
in the Danish 3 network. Group Managing Direc-
tor Canning Fok is confident that although it has
taken more than six years for 3’s Danish opera-
tions to turn a profit, the DKK4 billion put into
the network will be recovered in full, and the
3 Denmark has put
isolated agricultural
businesses back on the
map.