• The country could be covered by both fibre and DSL this year
• Broadband penetration target is 39% by 2025
• Next target is 100Mbps broadband to underserved areas with low population density

With ‘Work From Home’ (WFH) being urged in most, and soon probably all, countries as they are impacted by the Coronavirus, Denmark’s national broadband strategy looks prescient.  

According to data analytics company, GlobalData, Denmark is poised to hit 100 per cent broadband coverage this year. That means it’s nicely positioned for any upswing in broadband connectivity as households decide they need a fixed link connection for homeworking, home schooling, not to mention the social media and home entertainment required  to make up for the lost outings to bars, restaurants, friends and relatives.

Denmark’s fixed broadband penetration under the government strategy is set to reach 39% of the population by 2024 (‘coverage’ is homes and businesses ‘passed’, ‘penetration’ is actual connections). The new numbers mean the country is close to delivering its targets, with fixed broadband coverage approaching 100% of households – up from 92% in 2018, says GlobalData.

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 says that in November 2019, the COBRA fiber cable interconnecting Endrup (Denmark) and Eemshaven (the Netherlands) was launched. The cable brings additional capacity for commercial purposes. In June 2019, telecom operator TDC announced that its NetCo (Network Company) is forming a joint venture with Nordkysten, a construction company, to deploy fiber in Zealand (a region in the Netherlands). 

Several months earlier, 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 households in Northern and Central Jutland.

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