Skjárinn

Síminn

Type	Private
Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	Original 1906; Merger of Iceland Telecom, Íslenska sjónvarpsfélagið and Skipti in 2005
Headquarters	Reykjavík, Iceland
Key people	Sigríður Hrólfsdóttir, Chairman Orri Hauksson, President & CEO
Products	Fixed line, Mobile, Internet, xDSL, IPnetwork, Television
Revenue	~$320 million USD (2004)
Number of employees	750
Website	www.siminn.is

Síminn, previously named Landssíminn, is an Icelandic telecommunications company. It was acquired by Exista in 2008.

Telecommunications play a vital role in Iceland. Although the country's population is relatively small (~320,000), its penetration rates for network-related products and services are among the highest in the world. Approximately 90 percent of Iceland's households are equipped with a computer, and more than 80 percent are connected to the Internet. Demand is high and continuous.

The year 1906 marked a milestone in Iceland's history of telecommunications. That year, a submarine telegraph cable was laid from Scotland through the Faeroe Islands to Iceland, where it came ashore on the east coast. A telegraph and telephone line, which ended Iceland's international isolation, was laid to the capital city Reykjavík. Many years passed, however, before all Icelanders got access to the telephone system. The laying of telephone lines in rural areas was completed around 1960. The Iceland State Telephone Service was founded the same year as telephone technology arrived in Iceland, 1906. In 1935, the telephone and postal services were consolidated. In 1998, they were again separated, and the company Iceland Telecom Ltd was founded.

The people of Reykjavík were quick to adopt the telephone. In 1912, the total number of telephone users in the town was 300. In 1932, the first automatic telephone exchanges in Iceland were opened, and in 1986, all telephones in the country were connected to automatic telephone exchanges. The laying of fibreoptic cable around the country began in 1985. The first digital telephone exchanges were opened in 1984, and this technology extended to all telephone exchanges 11 years later.

Short-wave telephone communications with other countries were opened in 1935. The submarine cable, Scotice, between Scotland and Iceland was opened in 1962. In connection with the cable, telex services were established in Iceland. A year later, the Icecan cable between Iceland and Canada was formally opened. In 1980, the Skyggnir Earth Station came online, and telephone calls to other countries then went via satellite. Direct dialling to other countries became possible for the first time. In 1994, a new submarine cable, CANTAT-3, was opened.