July 31, 2009 -
PRLog -- BMI’s 2009 report on the Norwegian telecommunications industry contains updated growth forecasts for the development of the country’s mobile, fixed-line, broadband, internet and 3G subscriber markets. We have made several structural changes to our report since it was last published in 2008. The changes include a reorganisation of the various sections of the report and the adoption of a new format for presenting the operator profiles. The Mobile Data section of the report also includes new coverage of the development of mobile value-added services (VAS) in Norway. In 2008, the Norwegian mobile subscriber base expanded by 2.1%. By the end of the year, the number of mobile customers had risen to 5.157mn; this is equivalent to 109.1% penetration. Growth in 2008 was notably weaker than in 2007, when the subscriber base expanded by 3.8%. Telenor Mobil, the mobile arm of Norwegian fixed-line incumbent, saw the strongest growth in 2008. In the second, third and fourth quarters of 2008, Telenor secured over 90% of all new subscribers to the Norwegian mobile market. As a result of its strong performance, Telenor increased its market share by two percentage points (pps) to 58.6%. Telenor continues to face competition in the mobile market from NetCom, which is owned by Swedish-Finnish carrier TeliaSonera. Furthermore, despite recent consolidation, the Norwegian mobile market continues to have a large number of MVNOs. One of the driving forces behind consolidation in the MVNO sector has been the rise of Mobile Norway AS, which is backed by the Swedish operator Tele2. Mobile Norway is currently transforming itself from an MVNO into a fully-fledged mobile network operator. In April 2008, Mobile Norway signed a network roaming agreement with Telenor, which will give the former access to Telenor’s 3G and 3.5G network infrastructure. Subsequently, in February 2009, Mobile Norway signed an agreement with hardware vendor Cisco for the deployment of a mobile internet platform. The latest data from Norway’s telecoms regulator suggest that there were 1.59mn broadband internet subscribers in Norway at the end of 2008. This reflects growth of 10.4% on the previous year, and means that the number of broadband connections was equivalent to around 68% of households and 33.6% of the country’s inhabitants at the end of 2008. Recent data suggest that xDSL growth is waning, while growth in the number of cable and fibre-based broadband connections remains strong. Norway has dropped from fifth to 10th place in BMI’s latest set of Business Environment Rankings for Western Europe. This major adjustment is the result of two main developments. Firstly, the weaker score which the country receives in the telecoms market category and, secondly, the considerably lower score which it receives for country risk.
http://www.companiesandmarkets.com/r.ashx?id=NXK2E4SAK149307# # #
Browse thousands of market research reports covering major markets, companies and countries. Www.companiesandmarkets.com is a central source of market research reports from the world’s leading analysts and report publishers.
