Norwegian enterprises lags behind in the use of broadband. About 76 percent of the Norwegian enterprises had some sort of high speed connection, while the share for Denmark and Sweden was 82 and 81 percent, respectively. The difference is most significant in the use of xDSL technology. Norway however is in the front in the use of alternative high-speed technologies.
This is some of the findings in the publication "Nordic Information Society Statistics 2005", issued jointly by the Nordic Council of Ministers and the national statistical institutes of the Nordic countries. The results also show that people in the Nordic countries are among the forerunners in the world in the utilisation of ICT. The Nordic ICT sector employs over half a million people. Newest figures date from 2004.
There are more mobile subscriptions than inhabitants in Norway and Sweden, who are on the top of the list of the Nordic countries. Also Denmark, Finland and Iceland have more mobile subscriptions per inhabitant then EU. SMS are most popular in Denmark where about 6,5 billion messages were sent in the year 2004. Norwegians sent about 3 billion messages the same year, and in Sweden and Finland the number was approximately 2 billion. MMS (Multimedia Message Service) are most popular in Norway where about 72 million messages were sent throughout the year 2004.
About 70 percent of the Nordic households have internet access. In Iceland about 84 percent have internet access. In Norway the share is 64 percent. There are no major differences in the use of ICT between men and women. Age seems to represent a dividing line in the use of ICT. A rather high share of those between 60 and 74 years did not use a computer. Generally the internet access is more widespread in densely populated areas. This difference seems to be most significant for Iceland.
The internet access seems to have reached the saturation point for the Nordic enterprises. Norway is on the bottom of the list where about 90 percent of the enterprises had internet access by the end of 2004. Finnish enterprises were most advanced where 97 percent of the enterprises had internet access. About 80 percent of the enterprises had xDSL connection. High speed connection was most common among Danish and Swedish enterprises. In Norway about 31 percent had xDSL connection. Denmark had the highest share where about 42 percent of the enterprises had high speed connection.
The ICT sector represents a major part of the economy in the Nordic countries. The ICT sector employed between 6 and 9 percent of total employment in the private sector. This represents about 450 000 employees by the end of 2003. Equipment related to telecommunication was important export articles for Sweden and Finland, while the import was concentrated around computer equipment. Finland and Sweden has the highest share of total Nordic investments in Research and Development (R&D) in the ICT –sector with 37 and 39 percent, respectively. Norway has a share of 10 percent. The relatively high share in Finland is primarily due to ICT – industry, while the share for the remainder of the countries are distributed evenly between the different sectors. Process innovation is highest in Norway, where 37 percent of the ICT enterprises have conducted innovation in the last year. The corresponding number for the Norwegian private sector are 19 percent. Only in Sweden the process innovation in the private sector is at a similar level as in the ICT sector. Norway is also innovative in respect to ICT – products. About 60 percent of the Norwegian enterprises have conducted product innovation, while the share for the remainder countries was about 50 percent.
2005 © Statistics Norway