4.0 Norway’s
Telecommunications Overview
Norway has telecommunications infrastructure is considered
to be relatively advanced; however it is not cutting edge. There are roughly
4.5 million people in Norway which utilize 2.9 million fixed lines and 3 million
mobile lines. Internet usage in among
Norwegians is also high, with roughly 65% of the population having internet
access. In addition, 54% of Norwegian
homes are connected to the internet in some fashion. All these population
trends are positive; however Norway still has more work to do. Broadband access is
generally thought to be a problem in Norway, although this is expected to improve. Network access
rates to homes and businesses generally support connections of up to 1MBit/s,
which are too slow to offer more robust services. Companies have resorted to
high speed leased lines; however generally find them to be expensive.
4.1 The
Norwegian Telecommunication Industry
Norway just recently went through the privatization process
of their telecommunications industry. There
are a growing number of telecommunications companies in Norway; however Telenor is by far
the largest ICT provider. Industry
estimates indicate that Telenor has roughly about 80%
of the market. The deregulation of the telecommunications industry in Norway is showing signs of improvement. New providers are beginning to emerge in the
form cable companies, electric companies, wireless carriers, and network
providers are all beginning to increase competition over the business and
consumer markets.
Nera SatCom (Nera)
is a Norwegian company that is pioneering in ICT by developing wireless
information solutions. Nera is seaking to integrate a
number of technologies (telephony, media, information, and high speed wireless)
into one seamless solution. Nera feels there will be significant demand in the future
as markets develop and technologies converge.
Nera has built a wireless broadband network
that allows access for these bandwidth intensive devices. Nera has also
invested in mobile satellite communications and applied this to maritime
industries. The services are projected to be very popular in markets where internet
usage is high.
4.2 Telecommunication
Statistics
Norway has managed to establish a number of trends amenable
to the knowledge economy. Norway’s cell phone usage, internet access, wireless
internet access are among the highest rates anywhere in the world (see graph 4.2.1
below). The following are a series of graphs comparing Norway to the G7 and other Scandinavian countries.
4.3 Broadband
Broadband generally refers to
a network connection (wired or wireless) with more than 2 Mbits/s. Norway is in the process of developing a stable and secure
broadband infrastructure that can offer high speed connectivity via access networks
to homes, businesses, government agencies, and organizations. The existing access
networks allow for several types of digital connections to homes, which range
from 64kBit/s to 1MBit/s. By global standards, these speeds must be improved to
provide the capacity which will allow more robust services to be developed and
offered to the market. Companies using high speed leased lines generally find
them expensive[1] in
comparison to other Scandinavian countries (see graph 4.3.1 below).
Network access is regarded as
an area which needs improvement for both consumers and businesses; however the
deregulation and privatization process of telecommunications in Norway are showing signs of improvement. Electric, cable, and other network providers
have entered the market; therefore increased competition expected to bring down
the costs and increase the bandwidth rates for both business and consumer
market. As of 2001, broadband has a penetration rate of only 0.68%[2]
(see graph 4.3.2).
The Norwegian government sees
this low penetration rate as a problem and is committed to nurturing the
development of their broadband infrastructure. The government is pursuing
broadband proliferation via the following methods:
·
Fostering
competition
·
Increasing public
demand for broadband services
·
Enabling
broadband connection to all primary and secondary schools, public libraries,
hospitals, local government by the end of 2002
·
Promoting the
market to extend broadband connection to all households by the end of 2004.
General Section 4 References:
Telephone density and
M-commerce information provided by the US State Department’s Internal Trade
Library. http://www.stat-usa.gov/miscfiles.nsf/vwNoteIDLookup/NT000505E2/$File/SOFT0133.TXT?OpenElement
Some internet statistics
taken from Statistics Norway and can be found at: http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/00/minifakta_en/en/.
Additional statistics on internet usage taken from www.Norwayonline.no website and can be found at:
http://odin.dep.no/nhd/engelsk/publ/handlingsplaner/024101-990053/index-dok000-b-n-a.html