\tNorway\u2019s independent consumer council blamed a lack of competition in the mobile sector for high data tariffs, in comments made as part of a newspaper expose on comparative connectivity costs across the region.<\/p>\n
Aftenposten, one of Norway\u2019s largest newspapers, ran a front page story claiming data services were much cheaper in nearby countries. It cited NOK300 ($35) would buy an allocation of 3GB to 6GB in Norway, compared with 50GB in Denmark and 15GB in Sweden.<\/p>\n
Finn Myrstad, director of digital services at the Norwegian Consumer Council, said the market was \u201cobviously suffering from a lack of competition\u201d.<\/p>\n
On the consumer authority\u2019s website, it lists creation of a price comparison service for mobile services as one of its priorities. This, it believes, will \u201chelp highlight the limited options that exist in this market\u201d.<\/p>\n
In response to the Aftenposten article, a Telenor representative told the newspaper it invests far more in Norway than Denmark and pointed to high costs associated with building networks in the former.<\/p>\n
Telia communications director Henning Lunde noted there were many aspects impacting pricing outside of competition, including consumption patterns, demand and costs.<\/p>\n
Competitive landscape
\nGSMA Intelligence estimated Telenor and Telia held a combined 88 per cent of the 7.9 million connections in Norway (including cellular IoT) in Q2. The remainder use Ice or one of the specialist operators in the market.<\/p>\n
In Denmark, by the same metric, TDC led with a 38 per cent share of the country\u2019s 10.5 million connections with no other operator holding a share of more than 21 per cent. Other players include Telia, 3 and Telenor.<\/p>\n
Sweden, which has 27 million connections, was led by Telenor with a 49 per cent share, more than double its nearest competitor, Telia. Tele2 and 3 are also among the other players, with more than 1.9 million connections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Norway’s independent consumer council blamed a lack of competition in the mobile sector for high …<\/p>\n
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