The Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Norway and Sweden have a lot in common, they share similar languages, along with many cultures and customs. They also share mobile operator brands Telia and Telenor — although Telia has recently closed the sale of Telia Denmark to Norlys. Despite the shared brands, operator performance isn’t uniform across these countries — each nation’s unique economy, strategies and challenges contribute greatly to the overall performance.
In this analysis, we compare Telenor’s and Telia’s scores in each Scandinavian country (excluding Iceland) to determine where they perform best. Both Telenor and Telia underperform in Sweden for speed metrics and coverage metrics, alongside 5G Availability. Telia Sweden scores more than 25% below its average score across Denmark, Norway and Sweden for download speeds, while Telenor’s 5G Coverage Experience and 5G Availability comes in at over 30% less. Additionally, we look at the operators’ recent award wins in each country, which shows that Telia and Telenor both do best in their “home” countries of Sweden and Norway, respectively.
By charting Telia’s metric scores in each country, it is possible to determine the areas where there is most room for improvement. There is little variation for Availability between the three countries. Games Experience and Video Experience are not pictured above, but with both metrics there is barely any difference between the three countries — either for Overall or 5G metrics. For Sweden, the biggest discrepancies come from the speed metrics, namely download speed, with Download Speed Experience and 5G Download Speed both over 25% below Telia’s average across the three countries. Telia’s 5G Coverage Experience and 5G Availability also dip significantly in Sweden, further lowering the benefits provided by the below-average 5G speeds.
Telenor has similar results, with a notable difference — the average 5G download speeds seen by our Telenor users are fastest in Sweden. However, Telenor’s 5G Coverage Experience and 5G Availability metrics do poorly in Sweden, both over 30% lower than Telenor’s average across the three countries. This speaks to Telenor’s difference in 5G strategy in Sweden, compared to Telia’s. Telenor makes greater use of high-band 3.6GHz spectrum for 5G, allowing for fast download speeds, while Telia uses the 700MHz band for broader coverage. This is in response to the Swedish government's goal that all of Sweden should have access to stable mobile services of good quality "where you normally are" by 2023, which has been partially achieved.
While Telia’s 5G strategy makes it the clear winner for 5G Availability in Sweden, its score is 2-3 percentage points lower in Sweden than in Denmark or Norway, and its 5G Coverage Experience is around one point lower. There is a larger gap with Telenor as its Swedish scores underperform by 4-5 percentage points for 5G Availability and almost two points for 5G Coverage Experience. Sweden is the largest of the three countries, by population and area, presenting more obstacles to 5G deployment. This likely contributes to the lower 5G Availability and 5G Coverage scores seen on both operators. Alongside this, Sweden has fewer 5G base stations deployed than Denmark for a larger population, increasing congestion on the network and reducing coverage. However, overall Availability for Telia and Telenor is highest in Sweden. With 5G deployment relatively new, it could be that the Swedish operators will overtake their Scandinavian peers once more base stations have been rolled out.
Overall Download Speed Experience and Upload Speed Experience are other areas where Telia and Telenor in Sweden operators are behind their Danish and Norwegian counterparts — although, they both do reasonably well for 5G Upload Speed, with the pair scoring higher in Sweden than in Denmark. Norway has the highest overall Download Speed Experience and Upload Speed Experience on both networks. A contributing factor is Norway’s high data pricing costs and it has the lowest mobile data traffic per user, meaning lighter loading of the network and allowing faster speeds.
Telia’s and Telenor’s underperformance in Sweden is not seen in the national awards table. In the most recent Swedish mobile network experience report Telia does very well, winning 11 out of 15 awards, either jointly or outright. Telia’s scores are very competitive for the market, its award haul is five more than the next largest — Telenor and Tele2 both win six. This is the largest number of wins achieved by Telia in any of the three Scandinavian countries analyzed, which reflects its strategy to ”focus on markets where there is a clear path to securing and defending the number one or two position.” Telenor does worst in Sweden awards-wise, but it still takes home all five 5G experiential metrics, either jointly or outright. Unsurprisingly, Telenor does best in Norway, its home country.
There is a gap in experience between the Scandinavian countries, especially when looking at overall speeds and 5G connectivity, with Telia and Telenor scoring lower on their Swedish networks than on their Danish and Norwegian counterparts. Sweden has fewer 5G base stations deployed than Denmark and has the largest population and land area of all three countries — hindering growth in 5G Coverage Experience and 5G Availability. Sweden also has the lowest 5G penetration of all three markets. Telegeography subscriber data shows that at the end of 2023, Telia’s and Telenor’s 5G subscribers as a proportion of total subscribers is highest in Denmark, around 60% for both operators, and lowest in Sweden — around 30%.
Telia’s lower 5G Download Speed in Sweden can be explained by its 5G strategy of using more 700MHz spectrum for 5G connections, favoring coverage over higher download speeds. The reverse of this is shown by Telenor, with its high 5G Download Speed score due to using more high-band spectrum. 5G deployment is still relatively new, and by no means complete. Varied strategies and obstacles have shaped the current 5G landscape differently in each market. Telia and Telenor are targeting different goals in Sweden — coverage and download speed — but will need to reexamine these in future to provide their users with a more rounded 5G experience.
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