On our planet’s least densely populated territory and with three quarters of the land covered with ice, having contact with friends, family and peers is limited to what nature allows. With the help of 5G, communications service provider Tusass and Ericsson will bring Greenlandic people closer. Greenland is the best fit for limitless connectivity.
Tusass announced together with Ericsson an extensive collaboration for the joint vision of a wireless Greenland. Starting as a pilot in 2022, non-standalone (NSA) Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) 5G will be rolled out in Sisimiut, Maniitsoq, and Narsaq, before it is realized in several places in the rest of the country.
Tusass’ CEO Kristian Reinert Davidsen says: “By deploying 5G we will touch the daily life of all Greenlanders. Mobile connections are extremely important in the Arctics and to many families and households in Greenland it is the only line of contact.”
Greenland is an island of contradictions: despite its name, three-quarters of it is covered by permanent ice sheets. It is the largest island in the world, but also the least densely populated territory in the world, 2 166 000 km² with a population of 56,000 people. Towns can be relatively close to each other, but not connected by roads.
Jenny Lindqvist, Head of Northern and Central Europe, Ericsson says: “With our resilient 5G technology, the people of Greenland will be able to connect over vast distances, bringing people closer to each other and to the rest of the world. From a broad perspective, this partnership serves the digitalization of Greenland, from enabling use cases for control of critical infrastructure and remote devices to bringing new entertainment services for the people. Regardless of how challenging the project is or extreme the weather conditions, Ericsson remains committed to create a wireless Greenland together with Tusass.”
5G provides higher speeds and, more importantly, it provides higher capacity that will allow the network to serve many users simultaneously consuming high amounts of data. Apart from connecting people – if movies, series, football matches and gaming are to be watched and experienced in 8K on your TV, the higher speeds and reliability offered by 5G powered broadband will be essential for the island.
Ericsson and Tusass’ partnership started in 2017 with a complete modernization of the mobile network while simultaneously adding high-quality 4G services across all populated areas in Greenland. As Tusass makes the transition from 4G to 5G, this will serve as a critical foundation. The technology and services already deployed include a Radio Access Network (RAN) with solutions such as Ericsson Radio System, supported by mobile core powered by Ericsson Cloud Packet Core.
