Yesterday, a report by the Nordic competition authorities, „Competition in the Nordic telecommunication sectors“, was presented. The project was funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers and was prepared by the competition authorities of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
The report's conclusion is that there is still a long way to go before a single, common Nordic telecommunications market is established. The situation is still such that it is much more expensive to make cross-border calls than within individual countries. The explanation for this does not seem to lie entirely in the higher cost of providing services across borders. This fact also affects residents' decisions to work in another Nordic country and thus reduces Nordic integration.
The report also emphasises that telecommunications markets still need to be closely monitored. To ensure effective competition, it is necessary to take action without delay against the abuse of a dominant market position.
The report describes and compares the telecommunications markets in the Nordic countries. The comparison is both positive and negative for Iceland. For instance, prices for domestic calls are considerably cheaper here, for both mobile and landline phones. This is an interesting conclusion, especially when considering the sparsely populated nature of the country and the small number of customers per telecommunications company. On the other hand, calls to foreign countries are still quite expensive here in Iceland compared to other Nordic countries. However, it is possible that this is partly explained by the country's location.
Press release in PDF format (PDF document – Opens in a new window).
"*" indicates required fields
