On Top of the World
A favourable combination of geography, climate and infrastructure has made the Svalbard archipelago the focus of Norway's burgeoning space industry. With reliable telecommunications vital for the downloading and transmission of satellite-borne data, long-time resident Telenor has seized the opportunity to play a pivotal role.
Lying midway between the North Pole and the northernmost tip of mainland Norway, Svalbard is perfectly positioned to receive signals from satellites in polar orbit. Such satellites orbit the planet from pole to pole, collecting information essential for predicting weather patterns and facilitating environmental research. Although such information can in principle be downloaded to stations anywhere on the globe, a rotating earth means that only stations located near one of the earth's axes can observe all a satellite passes.
Setting up shop in a sometimes hostile arctic environment might not sound very appealing, but Svalbard offers a unique set of advantages compared with other polar locations. Like the rest of Norway, Svalbard enjoys the benefits of a relatively mild climate thanks to the Gulf Stream. Add to that the presence of a fully functioning, self-contained community with all necessary governmental, commercial and leisure facilities, and you have a far more hospitable place than Svalbard's classification as an 'Arctic desert' would suggest.
Resident Experts
Telenor's presence on Svalbard dates back to 1911 with the establishment of Isfjord Radio as the first telecommunications link to the mainland. In 1978, Telenor launched Svalbard's space age when the establishment of a satellite link made Norway one of the first countries in the world to incorporate a satellite into its domestic telecommunications networks. No mean feat considering the overwhelming initial scepticism of experts to the possibility that signals from equatorial satellites could be received at such a northerly location. This close relationship continued through the 1990s as Svalbard became a 'wired community' with access to a comprehensive range of modern communications - everything from coastal radio to Internet and mobile telephony.
The Svalbard experience has established Telenor as a world leader in Arctic communications and underscored the success of the Polar Satellite Services (PSS) initiative. One of the main objectives of PSS is to provide secure, reliable and cost-efficient communication services to and from Svalbard. PSS works closely with Norwegian Space Centre (NSC) in providing operators of polar orbiting satellites with a unique one-stop service package for the downloading of data and its transmission to global destinations. NSC's earth station for downloading of data - SvalSat - was established in 1996 and now services satellite operators such as NASA, Eumetsat and the European Space Agency (ESA).
Top of the World - Top of the Range
The meteorological, climatic and environmental observation data collected by pole-to-pole satellites is all time-critical; nothing short of near real-time transmission is acceptable to satellite operators and their global customer base. Here, Telenor's reliability in operating satellite communication links is well documented. An availability of 99.95 per cent has been recorded since 1978 with no fatal dropouts experienced. To maintain these high standards and meet the new challenges of an expanding space industry, Telenor has made substantial long-term investments in infrastructure to plug Svalbard into the global communications superhighway, and thus provide SvalSat customers with flexible and truly global communication solutions. The result is a facility widely considered to be the world's best for downloading data from polar-orbiting satellites.
As it approaches the century mark, the prosperous bond between Telenor and Svalbard seems destined to continue.
Text by: Kevin Reeder
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