Shortcomings in free competition seen in broadband service
Finland and Sweden have lowest broadband prices in Nordic region
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A fresh report has has found serious problems in competition on the market for broadband services in the Nordic Countries. Wholesale prices are high in Finland, and telephone companies use prices as leverage against newcomers.
A report by telecommunications authorities in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark on the structures and price levels of broadband service, reveals that connection fees for subscribers in the Nordic Countries are significantly higher than average for the European Union.
Also distorting competition on the wholesale market has been the unfair treatment of competing operators by wholesalers in delivery times and other conditions.
"Price screw problems" have also been noted on the market, where the wholesale pricing of traditional network companies makes it difficult for competitors to enter the market. In all Nordic Countries, established companies on the wholesale market are obligated to open their networks to competing service providers.
Prices of broadband subscriptions in the Nordic Countries are lowest in Finland and Sweden for both slow and fast connections.
Fast broadband service is most popular in Sweden, where more than half of broadband customers have access to connections of 2 MB or more. In Finland and Denmark, one in three subscribers have such fast connections, an in Norway, just 15 per cent.
Helsingin Sanomat
