In publishing its latest telecoms statistics for the period ended 30 June 2017 Norway’s National Communications Authority (Nasjonal kommunikasjonsmyndighet, Nkom) has reported what it claims is the largest year-on-year increase in fibre-based connections.According to the regulator, at the end of the first half of 2017 there were a total of 818,000 residential broadband subscribers being served by a fibre-based service, up from 691,000 a year earlier. Further, the Nkom reported that out of a total of 2.01 million broadband subscribers in the country at that date, fibre connections represented more than 40% of all accesses, up from just under 36% at mid-2016 and around 31% the year before that. The popularity of xDSL-based services continues to decline, by comparison, falling to 525,000 at mid-2017, down from 574,000 a year earlier. Cable broadband also saw a marginal decline in the year to 30 June 2017, with such accesses falling to 623,000 from 634,000.
Fixed voice connections also continued to fall, meanwhile, with the Nkom reporting a total of 446,000 PSTN/ISDNlines in service at mid-2017, representing a sizeable reduction from 527,000 a year earlier. VoIP subscriber numbers also maintained a downward trend, falling by almost 11% y-o-y to 300,000.
In the mobile arena there were a total of 6.16 million subscriptions, including mobile broadband only plans, at the end of the reporting period, down marginally from 6.19 million at mid-2016. Of the total, the Nkom reported that the lion’s share of the total figure – 4.8 million, or around 77% – were contract customers.
Nkom also published information regarding the turnover generated in each market sector, revealing that revenues in the mobile arena totalled NOK10.02 billion (USD1.25 billion) in the first six months of 2017, up from NOK9.73 billion in the corresponding period a year earlier. Meanwhile, fixed broadband turnover reached NOK4.74 billion, compared to NOK4.59 billion, while fixed voice turnover declined to NOK1.12 billion from NOK1.36 billion.