The Telecommunications Fund
This Fund was established by Act No. 132/2005, on the Telecommunications Fund. The Fund's purpose is to allocate financial resources for projects that are aimed at developing the telecommunications infrastructure, at contributing to the safety and competitiveness of the Icelandic nation in the field of telecommunications, and at achieving further goals, insofar as such projects are provided for in the Telecom Policy Statement and are considered unlikely to be undertaken on market terms. Any construction work for Telecommunications Fund projects shall be put up for tender, while the Fund’s board of directors shall have the role of determining the arrangements for and the scope of invitations to tender.
An act on utilising the proceeds from the sale of Iceland Telecom hf., Act No. 133/2005, allowed for a total of ISK 2.5 billion to be allocated to the Fund. Primarily, the assets that have been approved for allocation to the Telecommunications Fund shall play a major role in fulfilling three objectives of the Telecom Policy:
- All Icelanders so requesting are to acquire access to a high-speed connection by 2007.
- Mobile telephone services (GSM) shall be accessible on National Road No. 1 (the "Ring Road"), other principal trunk roads, and at the most frequented tourist destinations.
- Digital satellite transmissions for television programmes of the National Broadcasting Service, as well as its Channel 1 and 2 radio broadcasts, shall reach to less densely settled areas and to ships and boats within inshore fishing grounds.