OECD Workshop on Fibre Investment and Policy Challenges

State Secretary Erik Lahnstein, opening speech OECD Workshop on Fibre Investment and Policy Challenges, Stavanger, April 10th, 2008.

Ladies and gentlemen!

It is with great pleasure to welcome you all to this OECD Workshop on fibre investment and policy challenges here in Stavanger. I am happy to see that so many of you, from many different countries, could find the opportunity to come here to Stavanger, a part of Norway not only well known for its rich oil-industry, but also for its beautiful nature, although the climate may be rough.

With the ambitious vision: OPEN PORT, Stavanger is chosen to be the European Capital of Culture in 2008. I have noticed that one of the slogans for the Capital of Culture is: “Already, Stavanger is the energy capital of Europe – now the new power is culture!” The programme of The Cultural Capital will gather local, regional and national artists with the most potent creative forces from elsewhere in the world. It is all about exploring each other’s ideas, building new competence and excellence, in addition to sharing openness, curiosity and adventure.

The Cultural Capital is concentrating strongly on participation – on bringing people together across borders to share new experiences to build the future. I think this also could be a good description of what this workshop can be!

One of the hosts of this conference is Lyse Tele. “Fibre to the people” is their slogan – and I think it is fascinating to hear about Lyse Tele's experiences on bringing fibre to the small community called Utsira. In Utsira, more than 100% of the households have installed fibre. The explanation for how they have reached “more than 100%” is that a couple of cottages also have installed fibre.

I think we have some world records here in the Stavanger region. In this region, 60% of households have installed fibre to the home. This makes up for a high penetration of services and probably the highest average turnover per household in any ekom network in the world of 100 euro/month.

Fibre is in my view a natural follow-up as the broadband penetration reach high numbers. People are getting used to utilize online services with increasingly higher bandwidth. In Norway, we are presently in the process of presenting new numbers for broadband coverage and penetration. We are close to 100% coverage of households and more than 65% penetration. At the moment, fibre-, and fibre/coax- offers are the fastest growing technologies in the Norwegian market.

This workshop is focusing on Fibre investments and policy challenges. For operators providing fibre to the home, triple play and other services are frequently a part of their investment strategy. This is often a good solution for both the operators and for their costumers, but the bundling of services also raises questions concerning network neutrality and the possibility for the consumers to choose other services and providers.

This is a challenge for policy makers all over the OECD, and will be an interesting debate to follow in the near future. I believe we need to put down some basic principles on non-discrimination and a reasonable bandwidth to the Internet based on best-effort.

Why does broadband and fibre matter? ICT is in my view the foundation of the global information society. The ability to develop and make the most of ICT is of vital importance for both industry and for the public sector in all parts of our country. Broadband is an important tool, for instance in the process of renewing the public sector to make it more productive and to provide better services.

Access to broadband also gives a better balance between rural and remote areas. In addition, broadband is important for social contact and democratic participation, especially for young people. These days, young people spend more time on the Internet than they do watching Television. Internet gives us good opportunities for social contact, and has become more and more important in schoolwork, spare-time-activities and contact with friends.

In Norway more than 65% of the households have a broadband access. Nevertheless, it is still interesting to look at why 35% still have not installed a broadband access. Some of these (for instance elderly people) will never be interested in using broadband. However, studies show that many potential users of broadband did not know that a broadband access was available to them.

Many people tend to think of the electronic communications business as a mature business, but it is also a business which changes constantly. The whole business is changing, and will continue changing, something the programme at this conference illustrates. This is a business in constant change, a business with new participants, new media, new technology – and rapidly changing media-habits among the consumers.

That is why a workshop like this one is an important forum for exchanging views and experiences. I am sure you will have a very interesting time here at the fibre workshop!