Telecommunications company Ericsson has announced it has secured a 5G Core and Radio Access Network (RAN) deal with Faroese Telecom, a communications service provider (CSP) based in the Faroe Islands to modernise its existing 4G network.
The deal has been described as a “significant step” towards unlocking the full potential of 5G services in the islands. Jan Ziskasen, Chief Executive Officer of Faroese Telecom said: “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,” added Ziskasen.
With 18 islands connected by bridges, tunnels, subsea tunnels, and ferries, Faroese Telecom is striving to provide mobile signal “anytime, anywhere, even deep underground,” Ericsson claimed.
Discussing the latest subsea tunnel, Jan Ziskasen said: “The newest subsea tunnel, Eysturoyartunnilin, is 11 kilometers long and 187 meters deep, and even has a roundabout. After the modernisation, 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!”
The new network could potentially transform the Faroe Islands’ main industry, fishing. In addition to serving vessels and fishing boats offshore through even better coverage, lower latency, and higher speeds, the 5G network to be deployed can be combined with the 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 “crucial” for driving industries forward in the Faroe Islands
Niclas Backlund, Head of Denmark and North Atlantic, Ericsson said: “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.”
The rollout of 5G and the full modernization of Faroese Telecom’s current 4G network will use Ericsson’s industry-leading 5G RAN and Core products and solutions, including the Ericsson Radio System portfolio that covers Massive MIMO and Ericsson Antenna System. The deployment will commence immediately and is expected to be completed in 2023.
