Icelandic cellco Vodafone (Fjarskipti) has announced that it has expanded the footprint of its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network to Vestmannaeyjar, an archipelago off the coast of Iceland. The operator revealed that a new 4G-enabled transmission tower was installed in the largest island Haimaey to coincide with the National Festival, one of the largest annual cultural events in the country; a number of temporary 2G/3G transmitters have also been deployed to support the increased demand.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, the operator launched its LTE service in the Reykjavik area and Borgarnes in July 2013, after being beaten to the punch by rival Nova, which introduced its own 4G offering three months earlier. Vodafone’s LTE services were later extended to cover Iceland’s second largest urban area Akureyri, and as of August 2014 the 4G network was present in Reykjavik, Fludir, Hafnarfjordur, Egilsstodum, Selfoss, Reykholt, Borgarbyggd, Hrisey, Husavik, Eyjafjordur, Akranes, Egilsstadir, Dolvik and Akureyri.