Telenor Norway said it backs a call for annual state subsidies for broadband of NOK 1 billion, as it announced plans to instal almost 250 new mobile base stations in 2021 in places without much or any reception. The new sites will accompany its work on phasing out its century-old copper lines, now half-way to completion. The operator will spend nearly NOK 400 million on the expansion.
The operator said state broadband subsidies have been cut from NOK 406 million in 2020 to NOK 264 million in 2021. Telenor said it supports a recent petition to digitisation minister Linda Hofstad Helleland from eighteen organisations and businesses, under the auspices of technology association Abelia, for NOK 1 billion in public broadband subsidies annually from 2022 to 2025. Telenor said its modernisation plan will not be enough to reach all the 250,000 premises that currently lack high-speed internet.
Coverage director Bjorn Amundsen said Telenor Norway's 250 new mobile base stations this year would normally be too expensive to erect but it is providing them in order to supply service once its traditional fixed network has been decommissioned. He said deployment of the new base stations is well under way in many locations, although others are still at the planning stage, as it requires permits and agreements with authorities, landowners and electricity suppliers.
Telenor Norway expects to have all the base stations up before the end of 2022, when the copper network is expected to have reached the end of its life. Telenor Norway is upgrading its 4G network to provide greater capacity and faster speeds, and it is also bringing in 5G. During 2021, all of Telenor's 8,500 base stations will benefit from an upgrade.
