Cable leads Norwegian broadband growth

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*Cable leads Norwegian broadband growth* _11.23 Europe/London, November 3, 2011 By Robert Briel_ Image: http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/yvind-husby-200x250.jpg Cable leads the growth of fast broadband in Norway, according to the latest report from NPT (Post- og teletilsynet). Last year the number of broadband customers increased by 52,000, bringing the total number of fixed-line broadband subscriptions for the whole country to 1,743,000 by July 1, 2011, as published in the new semi-annual report about the electronic communications market in Norway. The share of broadband over cable TV increased by 2.6%, and the report shows that a decreasing number of customers now rely on the copper based xDSL technology, said Øyvind Husby, chairman of Kabel Norge, the trade organisation for Norwegian cable TV operators. Cable operators who are members of Kabel Norge offer speeds up to 200 Mbps to their customers, and have the possibility of offering even higher speeds according to the demand from their customers. Norwegian cable TV networks are now among the most modern in the whole of Europe, being equipped with fiber-based HFC technology. This means they can offer our customers a future proof technology which will be able to deliver the broadband speeds expected by the market, Husby points out. Norwegian cable operators today have 504,000 broadband customers, making cable TV the second largest fixed network broadband technology in the country. At the same time, the cable broadband technology is the fastest growing in Norway. Only the traditional xDSL technology is still larger than cable. The NPT report shows however that customers are continuing to flee from copper, as the number of customers still relying on the old copper technology showed a decrease of 2.2% during last year.