22.01.2007

Nordic regulators' survey results: Same targets for broadband policy and regulation - variations in connection prices

Broadband has grown rapidly in popularity in all Nordic countries in recent years. The Nordic countries rank among the first in the world in broadband penetration. Iceland and Denmark rank higher than Finland.

This fact appears from the report of the communications regulators of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark who surveyed the structure and prices regarding the broadband market in the Nordic countries. The report also makes comparisons between the aims of the IT policy in each country and the sector specific regulation in the field.

DSL using the traditional telephone network is the most popular technology for internet connections in the Nordic countries. Broadband via cable tv is also favoured but the cable network coverage is usually smaller than the coverage of the telephone networks. New technologies for broadband, especially fibre connections and wireless solutions are becoming more common. The share of fibre connections in Finland is still very small whereas nearly 10% of the Swedish households already have the fast fibre connection. The local electricity companies in Denmark are also making investments in fibre networks which are expected to stimulate the competition in the market. Wireless broadband will in the future be provided especially in the wireless access networks but also in the 3G mobile networks.

Finland and Sweden have the lowest end-user prices

The structure and prices of the broadband market vary among the Nordic countries. Sweden and Finland have the most favourable end user prices regardless of the connection speed. In Finland the end user prices for the slowest connections, however, started to increase in 2006 but the prices for rapid connections continued to decrease. In Sweden fast connections have been more popular than in the other countries as more than 50% of the broadband customers have a connection speed of at least 2 Mbit per second. The corresponding figure in Finland and Denmark is about 30% and in Norway 15%.

In all Nordic countries the traditional players in the wholesale market must open up their networks to competing service providers, thus enabling them to enter the market. However, there are still considerable competition problems in the Nordic wholesale market. For wholesale prices, the installation charges for subscriber connections are significantly higher in the Nordic countries compared with the EU average. Finland has the highest installation charges. Competition in the wholesale market is also distorted due to discrimination of competing operators regarding the time of delivery and other terms of supply. There is also a margin squeeze problem, where the incumbent network operator's wholesale prices leave little scope for competing operators to enter the market.

Broadband prices in the Nordic countries in 2006 [PDF, 431 KB]
Bredbandspriser i Norden 2006 [PDF, 412 KB]

Further information:
Planning Manager Ritva Suurnäkki, tel. +358 9 6966 824, +358 40 560 7914
Communications Market Specialist Tuomas Haanperä, tel. +358 9 6966 433