As Norway progresses towards deregulating the wholesale broadband market, Nkom has warned operators that SMP regulation remains a tool at its disposal
Nkom plans to impose SMP regulation on three fibre operators that do not plan to voluntarily open up their networks
On 6 January 2026, the Norwegian Communications Authority (Nkom) launched a short, five-week consultation on an updated set of proposals for the regulation of the wholesale broadband market. In March 2025, Nkom proposed to deregulate the market, stating that it had changed considerably over recent years and that its expectations around operators providing voluntary access to their fibre networks would facilitate the entry of new retail players and could replace the need for traditional significant market power (SMP) regulation. However, the regulator has found that three operators – Tussa IKT, Tafjord Connect and NEAS – do not intend to voluntarily open up their networks on a wholesale basis. While Nkom considers that the market is moving towards sustainable competition at a nearly national level, it plans to continue to impose SMP regulation on these operators, with each having 80%+ market share in their respective regions.
Three regional wholesale broadband markets are not currently tending towards effective competition
Nkom’s latest consultation includes a new analysis of those three regions, which it has used to define separate fixed access markets, which include wholesale products based on fibre, hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) and fixed wireless access (FWA). Based on the three criteria test, Nkom has decided that none of the regions are tending towards sustainable competition, making each market susceptible to sector-specific ex-ante regulation. Further ex-ante regulation is not being proposed for other operators that have shown a willingness to open up their networks voluntarily. The additional market analysis also proposes to require Telenor to continue wholesale access to its networks across Norway throughout the transition from a regulated to broadly deregulated market. Once Nkom’s latest consultation is completed, it plans to compile its additional and initial March 2025 market analyses into one joint analysis, which will form the basis of its final decisions.
Operators are expected to offer fair and reasonable access to their networks, including in terms of price
Nkom has also made clear that any participants in its voluntary network sharing scheme, referred to as “FiberHub”, must open up their networks in line with the consultation’s framework for voluntary access, which reflects the principles it published in February 2025. For example, Nkom requires “fair and reasonable” conditions for access, price or other terms, and establishes that such access should only be offered in markets that are considered ‘neutral’, so that fibre infrastructure owners do not favour their own downstream ISPs over other access seekers. The regulator’s ongoing dialogue with Telenor indicates that the former incumbent is so far compliant with these principles. The regulator has cautioned, however, that if any operator is deemed not to be prioritising the implementation of the principles, or lacks clear plans to offer wholesale access, it will assess whether to define more regional markets, which may lead to further SMP designations.
