Ericsson has announced it has secured an exclusive 5G Core and Radio Access Network (RAN) deal with Faroese Telecom, the Faroe Islands’ leading and incumbent communications service provider (CSP). As part of the new partnership, Faroese Telecom will use Ericsson’s leading technologies, to fully modernise their existing network.
The new deal is a significant step towards unlocking the full potential of 5G services and use cases across the Faroe Islands, the 18 rocky, volcanic islands between Iceland and Norway in the North Atlantic Ocean. The self-governing archipelago is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark and has a total area of about 1,400 square kilometres with a population of 53,400.
“We are aiming at world-class coverage, speed and capacity.”
Jan Ziskasen, Faroese Telecom.
“Faroese Telecom has high ambitions for the network – we are aiming at world-class coverage, speed and capacity. The Faroe Islands is one of the best-connected countries in the world with 97.2 percent geographical coverage of 4G reaching even 100 kilometers out to sea. With Ericsson as our strategic partner, we will enable the next generation of innovation and more capacity in the network to achieve our goal of 100 percent geographic coverage – a demanding task given the geography and terrain of the Faroe Islands,” said Jan Ziskasen, CEO, Faroese Telecom.
5G deep underground
The 18 islands that make up the Faroe Islands are connected by bridges, tunnels, subsea tunnels and ferries. And so Faroese Telecom is striving to use 5G technology to provide a mobile signal anytime, anywhere, even deep underground.
“This will be the first undersea tunnel where you can roam on 5G whilst driving through a roundabout under the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean.”
Jan Ziskasen, Faroese Telecom.
“The newest subsea tunnel, Eysturoyartunnilin, is 11 kilometers long and 187 meters deep, and even has a roundabout. After the modernization, this will be the first undersea tunnel where you can roam on 5G whilst driving through a roundabout under the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean!” said Jan Ziskasen, CEO, Faroese Telecom.
5G to transform the fishing industry
The modernised 5G network has the potential to transform the Faroe Islands’ main industry: fishing. In addition to serving vessels and fishing boats offshore through even better coverage, lower latency, and higher 5G speed, the new network to be deployed can be combined with Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) to enable new use cases and bolster sustainability efforts in the region including safety improvement, autonomous navigation, route monitoring for fuel volume control and gas emissions.
“5G technology’s fast connectivity and low latency are crucial for driving industries forward.”
Niclas Backlund, Ericsson.
“5G technology’s fast connectivity and low latency are crucial for driving industries forward in the Faroe Islands and enabling the large-scale introduction of IoT. The superior speed, high reliability and low latency of 5G make it possible to bring new applications to the market and provide coverage in challenging terrain,” said Niclas Backlund, Head of Denmark and North Atlantic, Ericsson.
Ericsson 5G RAN and Core products and solutions, including the Ericsson Radio System portfolio that covers Massive MIMO and Ericsson Antenna System, will be used in the rollout of 5G and the full modernisation of Faroese Telecom’s current 4G network. The deployment will commence immediately and is expected to be completed in 2023.
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