General deployment of optical fibre technology commenced in the eighties. Its introduction revolutionised the telecommunications arena and has become the foundation of most telecommunication systems in use today. Optical fibres connect continents and countries, are used in core and access networks and for backhauling of mobile communication systems. The internet would barely exist without optical fibres and globalisation would hardly have seen the dawn of light. Three submarine optical cables connect Iceland to the outside world; Farice and Danice connect Iceland to Europe and Greenland Connect to America via Greenland. The optical ring around Iceland constitutes the Icelandic core network. The ring passes by nearly all villages and towns and fibre deployment in the access network has reached an advanced state. Fibre deployment in rural areas has already begun and will presumably be finished in a few years. Iceland plays a leading role in fibre deployment. In this paper, fibre utilisation in Iceland will be described, both in core and access networks. Three different architectures for fibre deployment in the access network will be described. Competition on fibre networks will also be discussed.
