HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Síminn hf. (, ; also known as Iceland Telecom Ltd.), previously named Landssíminn (, ), is an
Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
ic
telecommunication Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...
s company. It offers communication services for both private and corporate clients, including mobile ( 4G/ 5G),
landline A landline is a physical telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber from the subscriber's premises to the network, allowing multiple phones to operate simultaneously on the same phone number. It is also referred to as plain old ...
,
internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
,
IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a Telephone company, telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live telev ...
, streaming services and television production. As a former incumbent state-owned telecom, it was split from Iceland Post (Íslandspóstur) in 1998 and later privatised in 2005. In 2007 its infrastructure arm was split off as Míla, sold off in 2022. Síminn is listed on the Icelandic stock exchange. Síminn operates a 5G/ 4G mobile network reaching over 99% of Iceland's population. In 2018, Síminn was the largest wireless carrier in Iceland with a market share of 34.5%.


History

Síminn is the
privatised Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation wh ...
sector of Iceland's previously
state owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to a ...
incumbent postal and telecom operator, ''Póstur og Sími (, )''. The Iceland State Telephone Service was founded the same year as telephone technology arrived in Iceland, in 1906. In 1935, the telephone and postal services were consolidated. In 1998, they were again separated, and the company ''Landssíminn'', was split from Íslandspóstur (Iceland Post).


Telegraphy

In 1906, a
submarine telegraph cable A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the seabed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean and sea. The first submarine communications cables were laid beginning in the 1850s and car ...
was laid by the Great Northern Telegraph Co. from
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
through the
Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...
to Iceland, where it came ashore on the east coast at
Seyðisfjörður Seyðisfjörður () is a town in the Eastern Region (Iceland), Eastern Region of Iceland at the innermost point of the fjord of the same name. The town is located in the Municipalities of Iceland, municipality of Múlaþing. A road over Fjarðarhe ...
. In conjunction, a telegraph and
telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...
line was laid from the landing point to the capital city
Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...
, housed in the main post office at Pósthússtræti 3. A national company operating telegraph and telephone services was established as ''Landssíminn''.


Telephony

The first private
telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...
links were set up in 1890s in
Ísafjörður Ísafjörður (pronounced , meaning ''ice fjord'', literally ''fjord of ices'') is a town in the northwest of Iceland. The oldest part of Ísafjörður with the town centre is located on a spit of sand, or ''eyri'', in Skutulsfjörður, a fjord ...
as well as a line connecting
Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...
and
Hafnarfjörður Hafnarfjörður, officially Hafnarfjarðarkaupstaður, is a port town and municipality in Iceland, located about south of Reykjavík. The municipality consists of two non-contiguous areas in the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital Region, on the s ...
. The first telephone network using a switchboard exchange was opened in 1904 as ''Talsímahlutafélag Reykjavíkur'' (the Reykjavík Telephone Company), a private undertaking with 20 subscribers initially, at Pósthússtræti 2 in a timber structure. Shortly after, in 1908 the exchange was moved to the upper floor of the main post office at Pósthússtræti 3. In 1912, the Reykjavík Telephone Company was merged into ''Landssíminn''. At the time, the there were 300 subscribers. The building at Pósthússtræti 3 was later fully acquired by the telecom in 1916 and housed the company offices and the Reykjavík telephone exchange. In 1931, a larger headquarters was built at
Austurvöllur Austurvöllur () is a public square in Reykjavík, Iceland. The square is a popular gathering place for the citizens of Reykjavík, and especially during good weather due to the prevalence of cafés on Vallarstræti and Pósthússtræti. It has ...
. Simultaneously, the first
automatic telephone exchange A telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a central component of a telecommunications system in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It facilitates the establishment of communication circuits ...
(
Ericsson (), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...
AGF) was opened in the new building, a second automatic exchange was opened in
Hafnarfjörður Hafnarfjörður, officially Hafnarfjarðarkaupstaður, is a port town and municipality in Iceland, located about south of Reykjavík. The municipality consists of two non-contiguous areas in the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital Region, on the s ...
the next year.


Subscriber trunk dialling

Subscriber trunk dialling Subscriber trunk dialling (STD), also known as subscriber toll dialing, is a telephone numbering plan feature and telecommunications technology in the United Kingdom and various Commonwealth countries for the dialling of trunk calls by telephon ...
, which allowed direct long-distance calls without operator assistance, was introduced in 1951 in the southwest of the country. Two-digit
area codes A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, reach ...
were introduced at this time, numbered from 91 to 98 counting clockwise around the country starting in Reykjavík. Trunk dialling was later extended to
Akureyri Akureyri (, ) is a town in northern Iceland, the country's fifth most populous Municipalities of Iceland, municipality (under the official name of Akureyrarbær , 'town of Akureyri') and the largest outside the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital R ...
in 1965 and all telephones in the country were connected to automatic telephone exchanges by 1986. The laying of telephone lines in rural areas was completed around 1960.


Digital exchanges and fibre-optics

The laying of
fibre-optic cable A fiber-optic cable, also known as an optical-fiber cable, is an assembly similar to an electrical cable but containing one or more optical fibers that are used to carry light. The optical fiber elements are typically individually coated with p ...
s around the country began in 1985. The first digital telephone exchange ( Ericsson AXE) was opened in Reykjavík in 1984. This technology was extended to all telephone exchanges by 1995. In conjunction, in 1995 a new
telephone numbering plan A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, reach ...
was introduced with 7 digits and new area codes. In 1997, all phone calls were offered at a flat minute rate nationwide, ending long-distance surcharges.
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a set of communication standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the digitalised circuits of the public switched telephone network. ...
services were introduced from 1996.


International calling

Shortwave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using radio frequencies in the shortwave bands (SW). There is no official definition of the band range, but it always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (app ...
telephone communications with
Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
and
Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...
were opened in 1935, and to
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
in 1946. The first submarine telephone cables, SCOTICE and ICECAN, to
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
and
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
were opened in 1962. The cable allowed international subsea telephone calls and
telex Telex is a telecommunication Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communica ...
services to be established in Iceland. At the same time the 1906 telegraph cable was taken out of use. In 1980, the Skyggnir
satellite ground station A ground station, Earth station, or Earth terminal is a terrestrial radio station designed for extraplanetary telecommunication with spacecraft (constituting part of the ground segment of the spacecraft system), or reception of radio waves fro ...
came online, and telephone calls to other countries then went via satellite and international direct dialling (IDD) to other countries became possible for the first time. By 1987 the submarine cables ICECAN and SCOTICE were obsolete. In 1994, the first fibre optic, packet-switched, submarine cable
CANTAT-3 CANTAT-3 was the third Canadian transatlantic telecommunications cable, in regular operation from 1994 to 2010, carrying 3 x 2.5 Gbit/s between Canada and Europe. It branches to both Iceland and the Faroe Islands. It is out of normal serv ...
was opened.


Mobile telephony

The 1G NMT system went into operation in 1986 but closed in 2010. The 2G
GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and Mobile broadband modem, mobile broadba ...
system launched in 1994 and 3G in 2007, but both were shut down in 2025.
SMS Short Message Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile phones exchange short text messages, t ...
service was launched in 1997. 4G was launched in 2013 and mid-band 5G in 2021


Internet services

Dial-up services first launched bý Síminn in 1996. In 1999,
ADSL Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) is a type of digital subscriber line (DSL) technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over Copper wire, copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem ...
broadband was put into operation by Síminn, quickly reaching all urban areas of Iceland. A coaxial
cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...
service, initially also offering cable internet, was partially rolled out by from 1997 to select areas, but the rollout slowed by 2005 in place of ADSL and fibre services, eventually being completely discontinued in 2010. In early 2004 Iceland Telecom deployed its
IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a Telephone company, telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live telev ...
service, which includes Live TV and Video on Demand via the ADSL system, allowing Síminn to offer triple-play services (integrated telephone, television and internet offerings). In 2009, Míla (in cooperation with Síminn) launched its
VDSL Very high-speed digital subscriber line (VDSL) and very high-speed digital subscriber line 2 (VDSL2) are digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies providing data transmission faster than the earlier standards of asymmetric digital subscriber li ...
service and
FTTH Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber opt ...
(
GPON ITU-T G.984 is the series of standards for implementing a gigabit-capable passive optical network (GPON). It is commonly used to implement the link to the customer (the ''last kilometre'', or ''last mile'') of fibre-to-the-premises ( FTTP) serv ...
)
fibre Fiber (spelled fibre in British English; from ) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorp ...
technology, dubbed ''Ljósnet''. It initially offered 50 Mb/s services, subsequently upgraded to 100 Mb/s where available. Full-fibre based services (
FTTH Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber opt ...
) were later upgraded to 1 Gb/s for using GPON technology and in 2023 offered 10 Gbit/s services.


Privatization and sale of Míla

In July 2005, the Icelandic government privatized Landssími Íslands and sold its 98.8% share to Skipti ehf. In December 2005, three companies, Landssími Íslands, Íslenska sjónvarpsfélagið (SkjárEinn) and the parent company, Skipti ehf., merged and the name was subsequently changed to Síminn hf. In March 2007, a new parent company called Skipti hf. was introduced and Síminn was split into three companies: Síminn, the main operating company; Fasteignafélagið Jörfi ehf, a real estate company; and Míla which owns and operates the physical national trunk and access networks in Iceland. The new structural change took effect from 31 October 2006. In 2021, Míla, Síminn's infrastructure arm was sold to Ardian, raising 46 billion ISK, raising questions about national security infrastructure being sold to foreign investors. Síminn entered a partnership with
Ericsson (), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...
in 2017 in infrastructure deployment in its mobile network.


Shutdown of services

Síminn shut down its
PSTN The public switched telephone network (PSTN) is the aggregate of the world's telephone networks that are operated by national, regional, or local telephony operators. It provides infrastructure and services for public telephony. The PSTN consists ...
/ POTS/
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a set of communication standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the digitalised circuits of the public switched telephone network. ...
telephone services in 2024, transferring customers to
VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also known as IP telephony, is a set of technologies used primarily for voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. VoIP enables voice calls to be transmitted as ...
services. In addition, 2G and 3G systems were shutdown in 2025.


Competition

The state-owned Póstur og Sími had a monopoly on most telecommunications services until 1998. That year, a new law came into effect, and the market opened for competition. The first competitor was TAL, offering mobile services at reduced prices. Others followed, the biggest one being Íslandssími. The
ISP An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non ...
market the competition saw many new providers entering the market, such as Halló!, Margmiðlun, Skíma, Skrín, Snerpa, Íslandía, 365 Media, HIVE,
NOVA A nova ( novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. All observed novae involve white ...
, Hringdu and Miðheimar. In 2003, TAL, Íslandssími and Halló! merged under the name Og Vodafone. On 6 October 2006, Og Vodafone changed its name to Vodafone Iceland. Vodafone has since then bought a few Icelandic
internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, no ...
s including TAL and
365 365 may refer to: * 365 (number), an integer * a common year, consisting of 365 calendar days * AD 365, a year of the Julian calendar * 365 BC, a year of the 4th century BC Media outlets * 365 (media corporation), Icelandic TV company * 365 ...
.


See also

* Míla * Íslandspóstur (Iceland Post) * Telecommunications in Iceland * Telephone numbers in Iceland * Internet in Iceland * Swedish telephone plugs & sockets – the old five-port Swedish ''telefonjack'' connector was previously used in Iceland.


Footnotes


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Siminn 1906 establishments in Iceland Companies based in Reykjavík Telecommunications companies established in 1906 Icelandic brands Internet service providers of Iceland Mass media companies of Iceland Mass media in Reykjavík Privatised companies in Iceland Telecommunications companies of Iceland Companies in the OMX Iceland 10