Telecommunications in Iceland is a diversified market. Iceland has a highly developed telecommunications sector with modern infrastructure. Multiple wholesale and retail providers are operated in a competitive market. As of 2024, Iceland's telecom infrastructure is fully digitised and mostly fibre based, with 93% of households having full-fibre availability. Landlines are based on VoIP technology. Mobile telecoms in Iceland adheres to the GSM standard and 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G services are available, as well as a TETRA network for emergency communications. Iceland is connected by four submarine cables to both Europe and North America. Broadcasting is based on DVB-T2 standard for television and FM for radio. There are a few printed newspapers, although most mass media is consumed online. Postal service is provided under universal obligation by the state-owned Iceland Post, but other private postal companies also operate.[1]
History
The first submarine telegraph cable connection to the British Isles reached Seyðisfjörður in Iceland in 1906 by the Great Northern Telegraph Co. Around the same time telephone communication was opened between Reykjavik and nearby Hafnarfjörður. By 1911 a telephone line connected Reykjavik in the west of Iceland to Seyðisfjörður in the east via Akureyri in the north. A line to the Vestmannaeyjar was constructed a few years later, and by 1929 a line along the south coast of the island connected Reykjavik to Seyðisfjörður via Vík. A teleprinter service was introduced to the island in 1930.[2]
As of 1933, there were 55 telephones for every 1000 inhabitants on the island. The first short-wave radio station was established in Iceland in 1935–36, linking the country up to international radio-telephone services. By January 1936 there were 106 radio-licence holders for every 1000 Icelandic inhabitants.[3] Due to the Icelandic naming system, people were listed by their first name in the telephone directory, and not by their last name (which is usually a patronym).
The first automatic telephone exchanges opened in Reykjavík and Hafnafjörður in 1932, and by 1976 all towns had automatic telephone exchanges.
In 1962, the SCOTICE (to Scotland) and ICECAN (Canada) coaxialsubmarine telephone cables were put into use, greatly increasing reliability and capacity of international telephone and telegraph traffic as well as opening up telex services for the first time. These new cables rendered the original 1906 telegraph cable obselete and it was taken out of use. They had a capacity of 32 and 24 telephone circuits respectively.
In 1980, the first satellite ground station was opened in Iceland, called Skyggnir. Initially connecting to the Intelsat system, most international telephone and telex traffic now used satellite communications. These new ground stations enabled International Direct Dialling, as well as allowing Iceland to access time-shifted as well as live television broadcast material from abroad, including Iceland's participation in Eurovision in 1986. Iceland's first internet connection was via satellite in 1986 with a 300–1200 bit/s UUCP link to Amsterdam. By 1987 the older coaxial submarine cables SCOTICE and ICECAN were taken out of use after a secondary backup ground station opened near Höfn in eastern Iceland, leaving Iceland solely dependent on satellite communications for international traffic during this period.
The first digital telephone exchange was opened in 1984 and all telephone exchanges were digitalised in the country by 1995. By 1986 all rural shared party lines were upgraded to individual lines.
In 1991, a fibre ring was completed that circles the country, roughly following the route of Iceland's ring road (Route 1), passing through most towns and cities. It was constructed by the Icelandic Government and NATO to link radar stations of the Iceland Air Defence System, as well as to enhance domestic telecommunications. It consists of 8 fibres and is still in use as of 2023.
In 1994, the first fibre submarine cable, CANTAT-3, reached Iceland linking it to Canada, Germany, UK and Denmark with a capacity of 7.5 Gbit/s. This greatly increased bandwidth and allowed internet connections to become more widely available.[4]
As bandwidth and reliability demands grew in the 21st century, more fibre submarine cables were launched to Iceland: FARICE in 2003 to the UK and Faroe Islands; DANICE in 2009 to Denmark; Greenland Connect in 2009 to Greenland and Canada and lastly IRIS in 2023 to Ireland. With multiple redundant submarine fibre routes, the satellite ground station Skyggnir was taken out of use in 2005 and CANTAT-3 became defunct in 2009.[5]
In the mid-1990s, the telecom market was opened to competition, breaking the state-owned Iceland Telecom's monopoly, and it was later privatised in 2005.
In 1994, dial-up internet services became available; in 1999 ADSL services launched, followed by VDSL in 2009. Fibre to the home services began rolling out in 2004 and had expanded to 90% of the population by 2022.
In 2010, the NMT (1G) mobile network was shut down. 3G launched in 2006, 4G in 2013 and 5G in 2020.
Analogue PSTN/POTS and ISDN telephone services (along with dial-up internet) were phased out from 2020–2024, replaced by VoIP services. Copper-based DSL services continue to be available.[7] In April 2024, Míla accounced plans for a complete copper shut down by 2028, including DSL services,[8] fully transitioning Icelandic telecoms to fibre based services.[9]2G and 3G services are due to be shut down by year end 2025.[10]
Submarine connectivity
Current internet and telephone services rely on submarine communications cables for external traffic, with a total capacity of 60.2 Tbit/s.
Current
FARICE-1, 2 fiber pairs, with lit[clarification needed] 11 Tbit/s to the United Kingdom and the Faroe Islands laid in 2003
DANICE, 4 fiber pairs, with lit 36.4 Tbit/s to Denmark, laid in 2009.
Iceland use FM and longwave radio broadcasts. Nationwide networks which cover the whole country include public radio stations Rás 1 and Rás 2 as well as Bylgjan. Other commercial broadcasters mostly operate in the Reykjavík area, and many are available in more populated areas. There are no current plans to implement DAB broadcasting, due to ample bandwidth and cost.[11] All FM stations are also available over internet radio, with some smaller stations being only distributed over internet radio. Longwave radio service is operated by public broadcaster RÚV, however the longwave service will be completely decommissioned in 2024 (with one transmitter site already decommissioned in 2023).
As of 2022 there are 116,142 landlines in use in Iceland of which 80,106 are VoIP, 34,527 are PSTN and 644 are ISDN. The number of landlines in Iceland has been slowly decreasing since their peak in 2001 at 196,528. Meanwhile, the number of VoIP subscriptions have been rising, from 58,311 in 2016 to 76,122 in 2018. 2018 was the first year that VoIP subscriptions surpassed PSTN subscriptions.[12] Analogue PSTN/POTS and ISDN telephone services were phased out from 2020-2024, replaced by VoIP services.[7]
As of 2022, there are 521,722 active mobile subscriptions in use in Iceland. 4G and 5G services are operated by 3 mobile operators, and 2G and 3G are still in operation until 2025. NOVA was the first network to offer 4G in 2013[13] and first to offer 5G in 2020.[14]Síminn and Vodafone launched their 4G service in 2013 and 5G in 2021. 2G and 3G services are due to be shut down in 2025. The NMT (1G) network was shut down in 2010.[15]
There are no area codes in Iceland as such, and all ordinary telephone numbers have seven digits. The international dialling code is +354. Numbers of mobile phones tend to begin with either 6, 7 or 8, while landline numbers start with 5 (in Reykjavík) or 4 (outside Reykjavík).
