Telenor Svalbard Supplies the World's Northernmost Broadband Access

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Telenor Svalbard Supplies the World's Northernmost Broadband Access
    LONGYEARBYEN, Norway, Feb. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- On Saturday,
January 31, Norway's Minister for Trade and Industry, Mr. Ansgar Gabrielsen
conducted the official opening of the optical-fibre cable that connects
Svalbard to the rest of the digital world. Simultaneously, Telenor Svalbard
opened the world's northernmost broadband access, at 78 degrees North, serving
the citizens and businesses of Longyearbyen.
    Svalbard's broadband access is supplied in partnership with Norwegian
Space Centre, which has been Telenor's partner in the rollout of two
1400-kilometre optical-fibre cables between Longyearbyen and Harstad. The two
submarine cables, which are equipped with "infinite" capacity, will replace
today's satellite-based mainland connection. As the fixed network connection
was routed through the fibre-cable on Wednesday January 28, citizens of
Longyearbyen were able to make their phone calls without any time delays or
"one-way speech", which up till then had been the case via the satellite
connection. The mobile phone connection was established one day later,
allowing for GPRS making services like multi media messaging (MMS) available
also at Svalbard.
    The services offered are identical with Telenor's broadband services on
the mainland, with Online ADSL serving residential customers, and ADSL Bedrift
and SHDSL Bedrift serving the business market. A number of other services,
such as home office solutions, wireless zones and domain names for companies
with e-mail addresses have also been introduced.
    "We are very proud to be able to supply this small, but exciting market
with new and faster services," said Managing Director Vegard Gjerde of Telenor
Svalbard. "We are convinced that this will be a positive contribution to the
Svalbard community. Both citizens and businesses have high expectations to the
new services, and we are already seeing a rush of people who are considering
new business opportunities."
    Longyearbyen currently has a population of 1750 citizens, approximately
900 households and some 80 businesses. The community is highly concentrated.
Businesses as well as the University and research communities, public
administration and households are all located within a two-kilometre radius
from Telenor Svalbard's premises. This makes Longyearbyen a well-suited
location for a Telenor "laboratory", that could be tasked with testing new
technologies and services.
    "The Svalbard broadband access shows that we are standing by our
commitment to provide ADSL coverage to 90 per cent of all Norwegian households
by 2006," said Executive Vice President Morten Karlsen Sorby, head of
Telenor's activities in the Norwegian market.

     For more information please contact:
     Managing Director of Telenor Svalbard, Vegard Gjerde: Tel: (+47) 905
     36 141
     Information manager Telenor, Knut Sollid: Tel: (+47) 915 98 288
SOURCE Telenor
http://www.telenor.com
CONTACT:
Vegard Gjerde, Managing Director of Telenor
Svalbard, +47-905-36-141, or Knut Sollid, Information manager of
Telenor, +47-915-98-288