Iceland grants ISK450m to 24 municipalities for fibre-optic rollouts

The Icelandic government has signed agreements with 24 municipalities for the deployment of fibre-optic networks. The Telecommunications Fund will provide a total of ISK450 million (USD4.6 million) to the municipalities under the ‘Iceland Initiative’, which aims to cover 99.9% of residential and business premises with next generation access (NGA) offering download speeds of 100Mbps by 2020. Local administrations will provide at least ISK350,000 for the rollouts. In cases where the municipality does not intend to own and operate its own fibre-optic network, contracts will be awarded to private companies willing to operate the infrastructure on the municipality’s behalf.