Home

European Union vs. Norway

Telecommunications

European UnionNorway
Telephones - main lines in usetotal subscriptions: 165,475,641

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 36.78 (2019 est.)
total subscriptions: 444,600

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 8.2 (2019 est.)
Telephones - mobile cellulartotal subscriptions: 529,497,242

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 117.70 (2019 est.)
total subscriptions: 5,775,830

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 106.57 (2019 est.)
Internet country code.eu; note - see country entries of member states for individual country codes.no
Internet userstotal: 398.1 million (2018 est.)

percent of population: 85%
total: 5,183,627

percent of population: 96.49% (July 2018 est.)
Telecommunication systemsnote - see individual country entries of member statesgeneral assessment:

sophisticated telecom market with high broadband and mobile penetration rates and a highly developed digital media sector; synchronized with EC legislation; comprehensive LTE and focus on 5G;  broadband penetration among highest in Europe; operators will migrate all DSL subscribers to fiber by 2023 and close 2G and 3G networks by 2025; regulator assigned spectrum for 5G; operator partners with Huawei for smart agriculture project; Oslo utilizes smart city technology; municipalities access EU-funded public Wi-Fi; importer of broadcasting equipment and computers from China (2021)

(2020)

domestic: Norway has a domestic satellite system; the prevalence of rural areas encourages the wide use of mobile-cellular systems; fixed-line 11 per 100 and mobile-cellular 107 per 100 (2019)

international: country code - 47; landing points for the Svalbard Undersea Cable System, Polar Circle Cable, Bodo-Rost Cable, NOR5KE Viking, Celtic Norse, Tempnet Offshore FOC Network, England Cable, Denmark-Norwary6, Havfrue/AEC-2, Skagerrak 4, and the Skagenfiber West & East submarine cables providing links to other Nordic countries, Europe and the US; satellite earth stations - Eutelsat, Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean), and 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions); note - Norway shares the Inmarsat earth station with the other Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden) (2019)

note: the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced downturn, particularly in mobile device production; many network operators delayed upgrades to infrastructure; progress towards 5G implementation was postponed or slowed in some countries; consumer spending on telecom services and devices was affected by large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home became evident, and received some support from governments

Broadband - fixed subscriptionstotal: 158,303,562

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 35.19 (2019 est.)
total: 2,260,605

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 41.71 (2019 est.)

Source: CIA Factbook