The Internet in Norway had its beginnings in 1971 when Norway became the first non-English speaking country on the net. In 1971 NORSAR (Norwegian Seismic Array) at Kjeller just outside Oslo was connected by satellite to the SDAC (Seismic Data Analysis Center) in Virginia, US as part of ARPANET in order to monitor nuclear test-ban treaties with the Soviet Union.
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Top-level domain
.no is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Norway. Norid, the domain name registry, is based in Trondheim, is owned by the state-owned Uninett and operates under supervision of the Norwegian Post and Telecommunications Authority. As of 17 September 2013 there were 593,744 registered .no-domains. Domain registrations are limited to organizations with a presence in Norway and registration at the Brønnøysund Register Centre; each organization is limited to 100 domains. In addition, individuals residing in Norway may register in the second-level domain priv.no. Other second-level domains exist for organizations of certain types, such as municipalities and schools. The strict regulations have resulted in near-absence of cybersquatting and warehousing.
Users
In 2013, almost 100% of the Norwegian population had access to the Internet.
Broadband access
In 2012, Norway ranked 44th out of 193 countries with 1,736,182 fixed broadband Internet subscriptions giving 36.9 subscriptions per 100 population (10th in the world). Also in 2012, Norway ranked 42nd out of 147 countries with 3,983,527 mobile broadband Internet subscriptions giving 84.6 subscriptions per 100 population (8th in the world).
Lyse, Norway, with an average measured connection speed of 8.1 Mbit/s, is the fastest city in Europe according to a 2011 report from Akamai.
ADSL
ADSL became available to private consumers around late 2000. Depending on the provider, offered speeds range from 512/128 kbit/s to as high as 8/1 Mbit/s for ADSL, while ADSL2+ is slowly becoming available with speeds reaching up to 24/1.5 Mbit/s.
Fiber is also almost in every city in Norway now speeds ranging from 2/2 Mbit/s up to 10000/10000 Mbit/s (the fastest available consumer line, only available in place with support for it). Prices vary constantly due to fierce competition between providers, but prices can be found as low as 195 NOK (US$30) per month for the most basic ADSL connections, while ADSL2+ is somewhat higher, starting around 499,-(NextGenTel) NOK (US$82) per month. This is in addition to DSL equipment rental and installation fees.
Some major ISPs that provide DSL services in Norway:
There is also a flurry of smaller and local providers all over the country that offer competitive DSL services.
Cable
Cable Internet access was available before DSL access, starting around 2000.
Cable ISPs:
Triple play solutions over optical fiber are increasing in availability and popularity.
As November 2012, all known services include unlimited download with no restrictions.
Internet censorship
The constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and press, and the government generally respects these rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combine to ensure freedom of speech and of the press. The law prohibits “threatening or insulting anyone, or inciting hatred or repression of or contempt for anyone because of his or her: a) skin color or national or ethnic origin, b) religion or life stance, or c) homosexuality, lifestyle, or orientation.” Violators are subject to a fine or imprisonment not to exceed three years. However, the law is little used. There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or credible reports that the government monitors e-mail or Internet chat rooms without appropriate legal authority.
The OpenNet Initiative (ONI) found no evidence of Internet filtering in Norway in 2009. There is no individual ONI country profile for Norway, but it is included in the regional overview for the Nordic Countries.
Norway's major Internet service providers have a DNS filter which blocks access to sites authorities claim are known to provide child pornography, similar to Denmark's filter. A list claimed to be the Norwegian DNS blacklist was published at Wikileaks in March 2009. The minister of justice, Knut Storberget, sent a letter dated 29 August 2008 threatening ISPs with a law compelling them to use the filter should they refuse to do so voluntarily.
On 1 September 2015 the Oslo District Court ordered ISPs to block domains belonging to seven major file-sharing websites, The Pirate Bay being among them, as the first court order in Norwegian history to block websites not related to child pornography. A second order was made on 22 June 2016, blocking a further eight file-sharing websites.