National broadband strategy for better connectivity and coverage

‘Work from home’ (WFH) is now being applied and insisted on in the majority of countries as they attempt to navigate their way through the economic impact of the coronavirus. However, Denmark has a national broadband strategy that looks visionary.

Data analytics company, GlobalData states that the country is due to reach 100% broadband coverage this year. Currently, this puts Denmark in a strong position for any upswing in broadband connectivity as households decide that they require a fixed connection for working at home, home schooling and also social media and home entertainment – at a time of social distancing and self-isolation.

The fixed broadband penetration under the government strategy is on target to hit 39% of the population by 2024. New numbers indicate that the country is not far from delivering its targets, with fixed broadband coverage approaching 100% of households – this is up from 92% in 2018.

Sergej Gavrilov, Telecoms Market Data and Intelligence Analyst at GlobalData, commented: “Denmark decided to remain technology-neutral in delivering its broadband targets, however, a lot of fixed broadband development revolves around fiber.

To further stimulate the expansion of 100Mbps broadband, the Ministry of Energy, Power and Climate of Denmark established a $15m fund in May 2019. The fund is mainly aimed at providing 100Mbps broadband to underserved areas with low population density, where connectivity does not exceed 10Mbps down- and 2Mbps uplink.

In line with Denmark’s fixed broadband strategy and telcos’ network expansions, fixed-broadband lines in the country are expected to reach 2.3 million by 2024 with fiber lines surpassing the one million mark by the end of forecast period.”

GlobalData states that in November of last year, the COBRA fiber cable interconnecting Denmark and the Netherlands was launched. This cable allows extra space for commercial purposes. In June of last year, telecommunications operators TDC announced that its NetCo (Network Company) is collaborating with Nordkysten, a construction company that will integrate the fibre in certain parts of the Netherlands. In previous months, Telenor signed a wholesale agreement with OpenNet, the wholesale arm of utility company Eniig, to provide broadband services over OpenNet’s fiber network. The scope of the agreement covers over 300,000 homes in Northern and Central Jutland – a part of both Denmark and Germany.