Cable Companies boost broadband development

Almost half a million additional Norwegian households can now subscribe to broadband services with 50 Mbit/s in download speed. High speed broadband through Cable-TV technology is the major growth driver in the Norwegian broadband market.

The Ministry of Government Administration and Reform* survey “Broadband coverage 2011” confirms that cable-TV networks with HFC fiber technology (Hybrid-Fiber-Coax) is the main driver to provide Norwegian households with fast broadband services.

From 2010 till 2011 the share of Norwegian households having access to broadband with up to 50 Mbit/s download speed has increased from 19 to 41 percent. The Ministry characterizes this boost as the most startling development.

Reach one-half of all Norwegian households

The main reason for the increase is the upgrade of cable-TV networks all across the country. Cable-TV providers have invested more than 8 billion NOK over the previous years, and have re-built cable-TV networks to state-of-the-art digital-TV and broadband networks, based on the fiber technology HFC.

- The Cable-TV networks now reach one-half of Norways’ households, and Cable-TV has become the most important broadband infrastructure in Norway, says Øyvind Husby, Chairman of Kabel Norge (Cable Norway).

Capacity is the main challenge

The Ministry report gives an overview of the coverage of high speed broadband in Norway, but Husby underlines that the broadband market has an additional challenge not being highlighted.

The report shows that more people have access to high speed broadband, but the broadband development is not only about coverage. The report does not indicate if the Norwegian networks have enough capacity to handle heavy usage from a large number of customers. Over the last couple of years we have witnessed that the system has its limitations.

- Broadband operators are still facing substantial, heavy investments to strengthen the infrastructure. Capacity in the backbone and access networks must be increased considerably, and we need better traffic management tools to optimize the broadband resources. It is therefore very important that the Norwegian authorities maintain a predictable broadband policy and ensure competitive framework conditions. At the same time, the content providers must also be prepared to pay for future capacity expansions. With this in place, the commercial players in Norway will continue to invest and offer even more and better broadband services to Norwegian households, says Husby.

About Kabel Norge

Kabel Norge is a trade union for the commercial cable-TV operators in Norway. The prime goal is to promote further expansions of the Cable-TV networks. The union has 26 members located across the country. These operators represent approx. 950 000 Cable-TV subscribers.

*The Ministry