Nkom considers the measure is still necessary, but commits to removing price controls after the next review.
Background: Norway is one of the few European countries where the market for wholesale mobile access and call origination is still regulated ex-ante. Telenor has historically faced access remedies such as national roaming, MVNO and service provider access, which were confirmed in the market analysis finalised by the regulator Nkom in 2016.
Telenor is still considered to have SMP: On 15 May 2020, Nkom adopted a new review of the market. It found that the market still warrants ex-ante regulation, particularly due to the fact that Telenor and Telia are vertically and horizontally integrated, and can achieve economies of scale that a new operator cannot obtain. Nkom also sees the market not tending naturally towards competition in the timeframe of the review. While the regulator does not see evidence of joint dominance between Telenor and Telia, it confirms Telenor’s status of operator with SMP.
A sunset clause for national roaming: The resulting regulatory remedies are the same as those imposed in previous reviews. However, Nkom is including conditions aimed at encouraging investment from other operators such as ICE, by committing to remove the price controls on the national roaming remedy after the next review, unless circumstances beyond the control of the third operator arise. Prices should also be set in such a way that service provider access is not more attractive than MVNO access, and that in turn the latter is not more attractive than national roaming.
What next? The new regulation comes into force on 1 June 2020. In its comments, the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) invited Nkom to monitor any signs of tacit cooperation between Telenor and Telia.
