Communications
Information Technology
Icelanders are the world's greatest computer users, on a per capita basis and nowhere has the Internet become as widely used as in Iceland. More than 3/4 of the population has access to the internet and use computers in one way or the other. 9/10 Icelanders has a moblie phone.
Satellite Dish
Export of expertise and of a variety of high tech products now count for a large part of national foreign currency earnings.
Data Centers in Iceland
Iceland’s telecommunication system ranks with the most sophisticated anywhere. It is the world’s first fully digitalized telephone system, with over 140,000 main lines and over 33,000 ISDN connections serving a population of 300,000. Optical fiber cables are used for general telephone traffic, connections for mobile telephones, data links and television signals. Transmission capacity is currently 20 Gb/s using DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) technology.
Iceland is located mid-way between North America and the mainland of Europe. Telecommunication traffic is channelled through fiber optic submarine cables, Farice 1 and CANTAT 3. Farice is running at 20 Gb/sec capacity with an ultimate transmission capacity of 720 Gigabit/second and CANTAT 3, which has 5 Gb/sec capacity both ways with an extra 2.5 Gb/sec to spare. Farice Ltd., a governmentally majority-owned company, has signed a contract for laying the third fiber-optic submarine system. This new submarine system will run from Iceland to Denmark and will support the growth of Internet-based advanced services and data networking in Iceland. Tele-Greenland has also started work on a new cable connecting Iceland with Greenland and Canada.
The project envisions the manufacture and laying of a 2,200 km (1350 mile) submarine fiber optic system, one of the most technologically advanced today. The ultimate transmission capacity has not yet been decided but the cable will most likely have 2 - 4 fiber optic pairs with 96 waves through each pair giving a total capacity range of 1.9 to 3.8 Tb/sec. The submarine system will use the most advanced submarine optical transmission technology. Construction of the system is scheduled to be completed in 2008.
In contrast to many European countries, Iceland is receptive to all companies wanting license-based agreements. There are already 36 telephone operators with licenses in Iceland.
