Norway’s Telenor Norge has confirmed the shutdown of its copper network.

The Norwegian telco revealed that it switched off the network at the end of last year, as planned.

The company confirmed the shutdown via a press release, also noting that the last voice call was made over the network on December 19, 2022.

Telenor first announced its ambitions to switch off its copper network in 2019, which at the time had just shy of 900,000 connections, according to Comms Update.

By the point of the shutdown, Telenor still had 37,000 customers using copper-based services, although these connections belong to alternative providers that have wholesale access to Telenor’s infrastructure.

Telenor is in the process of dismantling its copper network where it is no longer in use, with equipment in almost 4,500 locations.

Spanish telco Telefónica is on track to achieve its copper switch-off by 2024, while last year Isle of Wight fiber broadband provider WightFibre claimed to be the UK’s first provider to switch off its copper network. UK provider BT/OpenReach is planning a copper PSTN switch-off in 2025 and a full network switch-off by around 2030. Orange is planning to start switching off copper in 2023 and finish in 2030.

Norwegian energy company Equinor said Wednesday it made its first commercial natural gas discovery in its territorial waters for the year, a discovery that will extend the life of a current field by several years.

Equinor, along with state-owned Norwegian company Petoro and Germany’s Wintershall Dea, announced a natural gas discovery that’s estimated to holdbetween 2 billion and 11 cubic meters of recoverable reserves.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the nation’s energy regulator, confirmed the discovery in the northern waters of the Norwegian Sea near the existing Irpa field. Companies there were drilling a wildcat well in an effort to find reserves in unproven areas.

Grete Haaland, a senior vice president for exploration and production at Equinor, said the find supports broader, regional gas production efforts. The new find could be connected with the infrastructure at the Irpa field, which will be tied into the larger Aasta Hansteen complex and extend its life by seven years.

“Discoveries near existing infrastructure require less volume in order to be commercially developed, and can be quickly put on stream with low CO2 emissions,” Haaland said.

Norway is a main supplier of crude oil and natural gas to the European economy, a role that’s become even more important as Europe looks to secure resources from nations other than Russia. It also powers much of its own economy on renewable resources.

Torgeir Stordal, the general director at the NPD, said in early January that Norway has fortified itself as a long-term, predictable supplier to the European economy and productivity in 2023 should not disappoint.

The NPD has 13 new development plans to clear out and is expecting some $30 billion in investments in the sector. That could bring in even more oil and gas this year.

Much of what’s left offshore Norway is in the frigid waters of the Barents Sea, where the government sees a huge upside potential.

In December, Equinor said the first phase of operations at the Askeladd field was sending more natural gas to the Hammerfest liquefied natural gas plant on the island of Melkoya, just south of the Arctic Circle.

Hammerfest under normal conditions represents about 5% of total Norwegian natural gas exports, which is enough to satisfy the demand from about 6.5 million average European households.

ASX-listed explorer Kingsrose Mining has struck a deal with Scandinavian Resource Holdings and Global Energy Metals Corporation for the staged investment into the Råna nickel/copper/cobalt project, in Norway.

Under the terms of the agreement, Kingsrose could earn up to a 75% interest in the project by spending a total of A$15-million over an eight-year period on the brownfield project. The earn-in will happen over four stages.

“Råna is a very exciting nickel/copper/cobalt sulphide exploration project which complements Kingsrose’s growing critical metals portfolio in the Nordics,” said MD Fabian Baker.

“Exploration outside of the mine site is very immature, in that modern models of magmatic sulphide deposit formation and exploration techniques have not been applied. Kingsrose sees excellent potential for the discovery of additional high-grade massive sulphide bodies through exploration of the whole intrusive system, with a particular focus on basal and ‘offset’ styles of mineralisation which are common in these settings but have not been explored for historically.

“We have a focussed exploration programme planned to rapidly advance our understanding of the geology and generate targets for drilling later in 2023.”

Baker said that this transaction was testament to Kingsrose’s merger and acquisition strategy in a market where high-quality nickel sulphide projects are difficult to come by.

“Nickel is essential in the electrification required to achieve a low carbon future and Europe needs to secure a sustainable domestic supply. With additional funds from the sale of Way Linggo, Kingsrose looks forward to advancing Råna alongside Penikat and Porsanger while continuing the search for additional assets to support Europe’s green energy transition.”

Kingsrose was recently selected to participate in mining major BHP’s Xplor programme, and will receive up to $500 000 in cash payments from BHP, as well as access to a network of internal and external experts, to assist in exploration work in Finland and Norway.

A Bermudian-based network service provider has formed a strategic partnership with a Norwegian high-speed network operator to support the increased network demands stemming from the burgeoning data centre market in the Nordics.

Global Cloud Xchange, which powers global connectivity for new media providers, telecom carriers and enterprises, has partnered with Tampnet Carrier, an operator in the Nordic sector responsible for more than 30 per cent of the traffic between Norway, the UK and Europe

Through strategically located network interconnections, GCX and Tampnet provide ample seamless connectivity solutions to support the growing community of data centre customers throughout the Nordics and beyond.

The GCX and Tampnet partnership offers a simplified way to expand reach across each company’s network footprint.

Through the partnership, GCX customers now have access to enhanced route diversity and new network routes throughout the Nordics utilising Tampnet’s unique and diverse footprint which traverses eight countries, connecting over 40 core data centres across 12 markets throughout Europe and the United States.

In addition, Tampnet’s customers gain access to GCX’s global network which consists of 66,000 kilometres of cables spanning 46 countries from North America to Asia, with sub-sea and terrestrial route diversity and redundancy throughout Europe-Asia and Intra-Asia routes.

“The Nordics region is experiencing rapid data centre growth due to various shifts in the market, including the need for more energy efficient and sustainable facilities. We are excited to partner with Global Cloud Xchange to collaboratively support this growth and offer expanded route options to our customers through GCX’s robust global network,” says Cato Lammenes, vice president of Tampnet Carrier.

“All of Tampnet’s routes are based on our own dark fibre and allow us to offer the scalability our customers demand and satisfy their bandwidth and infrastructure needs in our region. Through this partnership, we will further boost our efforts in contributing to a carbon neutral future by offering greater route diversity to access key data centres and interconnection points in the Nordics.”

The companies said sub-sea networks are the backbone of connectivity and provide international interconnectivity solutions, further fuelling data centre growth around the world.

Both GCX and Tampnet are fostering a globally accessible ecosystem that further leverages each company’s sub-sea network assets, allowing customers to design, manage and connect their networks — seamlessly — throughout the world.

David Bruce, head of EU/US/APAC at Global Cloud Xchange, said: “We are seeing a shift in the market where mission critical businesses are looking to diversify their network and data centres away from the traditional FLAP-D [Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Dublin] markets due to rising power costs and instabilities across the power grid.

“The Nordics is the logical choice due to carbon zero energy generation and many other benefits. This is an opportune partnership, allowing Tampnet to utilise the global reach of GCX’s network whilst at the same time opening up a new and timely region for GCX customers.”

Ireland must be prepared to abandon talks on a deal giving Norway greater access to Irish waters, say fishing industry chiefs.

The deal, which is being negotiated between the EU and Norway, is being discussed at a time when other EU states want a greater share of Norway’s cod stocks.

Industry chiefs here fear the EU will sacrifice Ireland’s fish stocks to keep Norway happy so the rest of the EU can get what they want.

Norway — despite not being a member of the EU — is currently allowed by the EU to fish 74,000 tonnes of blue whiting in Irish waters.

This is considerably more than the 48,000 tonnes Irish fishermen can catch in Irish waters.

But as part of annual international quota negotiations to do with how much various states can fish in other states’ waters, Norway has included a demand that it be allowed fish for a total of 450,000 tonnes of blue whiting in Irish waters.

Talks, which stalled last December after Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue objected to Norway’s request, begin again on Wednesday. 

Irish Fish Producers Organisation chief executive Aodh O’Donnell said: “The EU must ensure fairness is central to any proposal to grant Norway greater access to Irish waters.

“Ireland cannot be expected to acquiesce to these new and additional requests for access unless we are offered a reciprocal arrangement.

“We appreciate that other EU states desperately want a deal with Norway to give them access to Norway for cod stocks. 

But it is unthinkable, unjust and inequitable that everyone else should gain at Ireland’s expense.”

He added: “Ireland must be prepared to walk away unless a meaningful quota transfer is agreed, in return for giving Norway wider access to our blue whiting. 

“The minister has already shown resolve on this matter, and he must insist a piecemeal deal is unacceptable. He has our full support on this crucial issue, to help turn the tide for our coastal communities.”

Irish South and West Producers Organisation chief executive Patrick Murphy said: “The Government must be resolute and clear. 

“A firm position must be taken until a clear arrangement is reached which benefits Ireland as much as Norway. 

“Ireland must no longer attend the table as a perpetual loser, we must be prepared to walk away and refuse to countenance any additional unfair deal with a non-EU member.”

Ireland’s quotas were slashed by 15% in the Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement, but while the cut helped get the deal over the line for more powerful EU member states, the deal has since damaged Ireland’s fishing industry.

Norway’s Blastr Green Steel is planning a €4 billion ($4.3 billion) investment to construct a low-carbon steel factory in Finland in what could be one of the largest industrial projects to take place in the Nordic country.

Blastr signed a letter of intent with Fortum Oyj on the planned location, an industrial area in Inkoo on the south coast of the country, according to a statement by Business Finland on Tuesday. The facility will include integrated hydrogen production and employ as many as 1,200 staff when operational.

Steel-making is one of the most polluting industries in the world, with huge blast furnaces heating iron ore with coking coal. A cleaner way is to use hydrogen produced with renewable energy. A number of companies, including Sweden’s SSAB AB and Finland’s Outokumpu Oyj, are exploring green-steel technologies, though it’s not yet produced at an industrial scale.

The Blastr factory is set to produce 2.5 million tons of hot and cold-rolled green steel annually from of 2026. The company chose Finland for its factory in part due to the abundance of wind power, according to Chief Executive Officer Hans Fredrik Wittusen. While Blastr is yet to secure funding for the project, it plans to raise debt and funds on the capital markets, the CEO told newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. The final investment decision is due in the beginning of 2025, according to the newspaper.

[Leo Laikola]

A meeting aimed at representatives of the Baltic states will take place in Oslo on Tuesday where discussions will focus on the implementation of the European Green Deal in the development of electric transport solutions.

At the meeting, leading Norwegian officials, enterprises and the non-governmental sector will share their experiences and examples about sustainable transport and climate issues with representatives of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The meeting will be led by Moller Baltic Import whose goal is to promote a faster transition to sustainable mobility in the Baltic states and to strengthen the area’s energy independence.

Climate change and the geopolitical processes in the Baltic region are encouraging the states to end their dependence on fossil energy resources faster than before. In order to ensure energy independence in the region, the states are pursuing environmentally friendly solutions.

The main factors in the success of Norway are close cooperation between the state and local governments and the successful implementation of a combination of transport tax rates and stimuli. As a result, Norway boasts the highest number of electric cars per resident. In the first quarter of this year, electric cars accounted for 82.9 percent of all new cars.

“The most important factors in the rapid increase of e-mobility in Norway are targeted and well though-out cooperation between the state and local governments, the introduction of e-mobility tax rates and support mechanisms for the private and entrepreneurship sector. Last year, 64.5 percent of all new cars sold in Norway were electric cars. Even though the share of electric cars in the Baltic states is only around 3 percent at present, the Baltics overall have good starting positions for future growth in e-mobility. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have equal positions in this field, which enables much broader options for fostering the development of e-mobility through joint action,” head of the Baltic region at Moller Mobility Group Tore Nilsen Breen said.

While there are differences between the measures used in the Baltic states to promote e-mobility, the region needs a shared strategy to develop energy independence and create a favorable environment for attracting investments.

“Norway’s good experience shows that the efficient development of e-mobility must be uniform in the entire region. Close cooperation between the Baltic states and local governments, developing a policy for taxes and stimuli that supports electric cars, and creating a uniform infrastructure at the Baltic Sea level are important cornerstones to promoting sustainable mobility and ensuring the region’s energy independence,” CEO of Moller Baltic Import Ilze Grase-Kibilde said.

“Like-mindedness at the political level that e-mobility is the right choice and a path towards sustainable development is the most important factor. I am certain that the Baltic states have the opportunity to spearhead the implementation of mobility solutions if there is targeted and coordinated action between the states’ public sector, private sector and main decision-makers. The good practices implemented in Norway serve as a role model and guide how to achieve faster results in the Baltic states and how to to successfully implement a sustainable e-mobility policy. As such a transition poses numerous challenges, a strategic view is needed from the state for developing support measures for infrastructure as well as the private and business sector,” she added.

Demand for electric cars has been growing gradually in all three Baltic states in recent years. People increasingly opt for electric cars, mainly due to their use of alternative fuels, including more economical fuel sources.

“Switching from an internal combustion engine car to an electric car is motivated not only by rational financial considerations, but also by lifestyle changes that make people increasingly think about environmentally friendly energy sources. The growth of state subsidies and the availability of electric cars, which is reflected in the growth of demand, play an extremely important role in deciding in favor of electric cars. A shared interest in society to care for the environment is also an important factor, which is why e-mobility as a sustainable and climate-friendly way of getting around is important for all of us,” chief operating officer at Moller Auto Baltic Izida Gerkena said.

The meeting will be attended by representatives of Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian public authorities, local governments, non-governmental organizations and businesses who have a shared interest in sustainable transport and climate-friendly solutions. The representatives from Norway will present, based on their experience, various activities that would enable uniform and targeted development of e-mobility in the Baltic states.

The meeting of Norway and the Baltic states in Oslo on Nov. 22 is organized by the Norwegian Chamber of Commerce in Latvia together with cooperation organizations in Estonia and Latvia with the support of Moller Baltic Import SE and the Norwegian embassy in Latvia.