The Ministry of Transport announced this week that it had received three offers from companies, two local and one Swiss, to complete a mobile service project aimed at getting coverage for some of the country’s most remote regions.
The companies in question have different time schedules; the local telecom company Síminn and Amitelo from Switzerland expect to finish the project in 12 months, while Og fjarskipti is planning to complete the project in 22 months.
Síminn has the most expensive offer, though all offers have a lower cost estimate than the ISK 732 million (USD 12 million, EUR 9 million) that the ministry had expected to spend on the project.
Once completed, the project will ensure mobile coverage for most regions in the West Fjords, northeast Iceland, the East Fjords, Snaefellsnes peninsula, west Iceland, and on Sudurstrandarvegur highway along the southwestern Icelandic coastline.
The Ministry of Transport will review the offers in the next few weeks and will likely reach an agreement with one of the companies by the end of this month.
Síminn made the lowest offer for the first part of this project and is currently establishing mobile coverage on the Ring Road, five mountain roads around Iceland and popular tourist destinations.
