Telecommunications in Iceland

There are two main providers of telecommunications in Iceland Síminn and Vodafone, providers of telephone, television and Internet services.

Services

Telephones

Fixed telephones

In Iceland, there are 196,984 (2001) fixed line telephones in use. The trunk network consists of coaxial and fiber optic cables and microwave radio relay links. Iceland shares the Inmarsat earth station with the other Nordic countries, and is connected to two Intelsats in the Atlantic Ocean. Iceland is connected to the CANTAT-3 and FARICE-1 submarine cables.

Mobile telephones

There are 325,037 (308,160 GSM, 16,877 NMT) mobile phones in use (2007).

Broadband

There are 88,253 xDSL subscriber connections as of June 30 2007

Numbering

There are no area codes in Iceland, and all telephone numbers have seven digits. The international dialing code is +354. Due to the Icelandic naming system, people are listed by their first name in the telephone directory, and not by their last name (which is usually patronym, or, rarely, a matronym).

Television and radio

Radio

As of 1998 there are 3 AM, 70 FM (including repeaters), and 1 shortwave radio stations, and 260,000 radios.

Television

As of 1997, there are 14 (plus 156 low-power repeaters) television stations and 98,000 television sets.

Internet

As of 2001, there are 20 ISPs in Iceland, and 220,000 Internet users. The top-level domain is .is.

Submarine Cables

As of 2008, there are two active submarine cables in Iceland, Farice1 and CANTAT-3, two under construction and slated for completion in the fourth quarter of 2008, the DANICE and Greenland Connect Systems, and one that may be under construction, a branch to Hibernia Atlantic slated for 2009. The Farice-1 system has a design capacity of 720 Gb/s. The Danice system has a design capacity of 5.1 Tb/s. The Greenland Connect System has a design capacity of 1.9 Tb/s. The Hibernia system has a design capacity of 1.9 Tb/s. The CANTAT-3 system has a capacity of 5 Gb/s and is near the end of its useful life. Once all of the systems are complete, Iceland will have greater than 10 Tb/s of submarine cable capacity.

Backhaul Providers

There are two backhaul providers in Iceland. One is Mila, owned by the LEC. The other is Fjarski, which is owned by a power company. The Mila routes are north and south, while the Fjarski backhaul route is through the mid section of the country.

External links

• Post and Telecom Administration in Iceland