Norway’s Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) has upheld a July 2016 decision under which specific obligations continue to be imposed on Telenor Norge, after it was determined to still hold SMP in the wholesale sector for access and call origination on mobile networks. With Telenor having challenged the decision, which was made by the National Communications Authority (Nasjonal kommunikasjonsmyndighet, Nkom), the latter has now confirmed its ruling will stand. It was noted, however, that the MoTC has moved to clarify some of the obligations which apply to Telenor, including those related to improving indoor coverage, non-discrimination precautions, the wording of standard agreements, and margin squeeze principles.
Meanwhile, although the Nkom is not required to notify the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) of new draft decisions until 1 July 2019, the MoTC has directed it to speed up this process, citing the rapid technical developments in the mobile market as a spur for doing so. In addition, the MoTC has specifically suggested that the Nkom should consider a whether future regulation should be more access neutral, while it has requested that the developments within the M2M and mobile IoT sectors are monitored.
