So far 96.6% of households and businesses have broadband of at least 100Mbps – much of the rest will be provided by commercial players rather than state aid
Last autumn the Norwegian Communications Authority (Nkom) launched a national, public consultation to map which households and businesses were eligible for broadband subsidies in 2023.
It found that only 44,500 households and businesses were not covered by commercial plans to deliver fast (100Mbps) broadband to them within the next three years. The coverage survey launched in November showed that 96.6% of households in Norway have access to at least 100 Mbps internet access. The national goal is for every home and business to have at this by the end of 2025.
The review of input to the consultation found there are several commercial plans to establish broadband in areas that lack fast internet access. In other words, it seems that fewer people than expected will need public support to gain broadband.
Nkom says it is positive that the market sees opportunities to offer good broadband offers both via fiber and fixed wireless access (FWA) in unserved and underserved areas.
Accuracy and next steps
Pål Wien Espen, Director of Nkom, said the figures from the mapping exercise aligned with its own analyses prior to the consultation. Nkom will now contact county municipalities with local addresses that are eligible for the state grant scheme – a fund of NOK 400 million (€35 million) is available in 2024.
The Ministry of Digitalisation and Administration (DFD) will shortly publish criteria to qualify for the grant scheme and how much of the grant each county will receive.
This varies greatly. For instance, in Finnmark, there are only just over 600 households and businesses without high-speed internet, which is 1,800 less than a year ago due to a combination of commercial and state-funded deployments.
At the other extreme, in Nordland, more than 8,000 households and businesses are without access to a high-speed broadband network. Nkom and the Ministry of Digitisation and Administration are now to closely monitor progress there.
Challenging territory
Nordland has a population of almost 250,000 and is located along the northwestern coast of the Scandinavian peninsula in northern Norway. It is about 500km long, with the archipelagoes of Lofoten and Vesterålen in the north west of the country, which has a rugged coastline with many fjords.
Nkom has, among other things, offered advice and assistance to Nordland county in this year’s allocation to help the people there define good project areas, says Espen.