Norway Press Release for Publication of BCE 2011
05 December 2012
Norway overcomes geography to provide good broadband coverage
Point Topic study shows Europe is half-way to “digital heaven”
One of the European Union’s most ambitious targets is to make sure that all its citizens can get access to superfast broadband at home, if they choose, by 2020. A new study by broadband specialists Point Topic shows Norway is now over 54% towards achieving that aim. This means that 54% of Norwegian homes can subscribe to superfast broadband services delivering at least 30Mbps (megabits per second) of bandwidth.
Despite being the most rural of the countries covered in the study, with a territory divided by mountains and fjords, Norway is ahead of the European averages for superfast coverage by all measures. It has used its wealth to ensure good basic and superfast broadband coverage, even beyond the Arctic Circle.
The study which identifies Norway’s achievements has been produced for DG Connect, the department of the European Commission which is responsible for its “Digital Agenda” strategy. The purpose of the Digital Agenda is to harness the internet and other digital technologies to drive sustainable economic growth. Neelie Kroes, the Commission vice-president responsible, wants to see €7 billion earmarked for EU investments in broadband to help reach Digital Agenda targets, which in turn is meant to draw in private funds of many times that amount.
“This study gives us the best view so far of where action is needed on broadband coverage,” says Neelie Kroes. “It will help to guide decisions on where EU and private money can be invested to provide the best long-term return for taxpayers and investors such as pension funds.”
Called Broadband Coverage in Europe in 2011, Point Topic’s new study shows that 96% of the homes in Norway can now get basic broadband, meaning services offering at least 144kbps (kilobits per second), if they want to subscribe. Over 54% can already get superfast broadband, also known as NGA, for Next Generation Access. Looking at the 29 study countries as a whole (all 27 members of the EU, plus Norway and Iceland), 96% can already get basic broadband and over 50% - half way to the “digital heaven” target for 2020 - can get superfast.
Basic broadband is fairly widespread now, only three EU countries have less than 90% coverage. But there are huge variations in superfast availability both internationally and within countries. As far as Norway is concerned, the map shows that its two most urbanised regions, around Oslo and Stavanger, both have over 65% coverage (in fact Oslo has 92%) while almost all the rest of the country, even the most regions, has at least 35%. Only one province has less than 35% and that is in central Norway rather than the far north as might be expected.
The study also shows how competing technologies are sharing out the superfast broadband market as illustrated on the chart. Norway is ahead of the European averages although it reflects the general pattern. Docsis 3 broadband over the cable TV network is Norways’s most important superfast technology with 44% coverage, compared with 37% for the study countries as a whole. VDSL, which provides superfast speeds over the telephone network, comes second on 27% as against 21%. FTTP (fibre-to-the-premises, meaning to apartment blocks or individual homes) is where Norway is most ahead of the average with 25% against only 12% for the study countries as a whole.
“When we add all these technologies together we have to take account of the overlap,” explains Tim Johnson, who led the project as Point Topic’s Chief Analyst. “This is how we get to superfast coverage of 54% in Norway.” The problem is that the superfast operators compete to serve the richer and more densely populated areas in each country, leaving others underserved. “Hopefully this project will give policy-makers some of the information they need to start addressing that problem,” says Johnson.
Figure 1 Next generation access coverage Norway, BCE 2011
Figure 2 Comparison of broadband coverage in Norway with the European Union
Key to technologies
DSL – provides broadband speeds up to 24 megabits per second over the telephone network
VDSL (Very-fast DSL) - provides superfast speeds (30Mbps or more) over the telephone network
FTTP (fibre-to-the-premises) – delivers the fastest possible broadband over optical fibre to apartment blocks or all the way to individual homes
WiMAX – the up-to-date standard for broadband over wireless links to fixed aerials
Standard cable – provides broadband over cable TV networks using older standards
Docsis 3 cable – the up-to-date standard for providing superfast broadband over cable TV networks
HSPA – the up-to-date standard for mobile broadband over 3G networks
LTE – the new standard for fourth-generation (4G) mobile broadband
Satellite – two-way broadband delivered over the newest satellites using KA-Band technology
Standard combination – shows the combined coverage of all the fixed-line broadband technologies
NGA combination – shows the combined c overage of all the fixed-line superfast broadband technologies (VDSL, FTTP and Docsis 3)
About Point Topic
Point Topic is the primary websource for DSL, FTTx, cable and other broadband supplier and user statistics, databases, information and reports. Its data is in use worldwide amongst governments, commercial organisations and as general reference. A range of online services provides the most up-to-date, accurate and cost effective worldwide and UK specific broadband data sets available. See www.point-topic.com for more details.
For media information please contact Dana Corson at or Emma Johnson at or on: +44 1636 812152.