Remote Faroe Islands lead the way in public safety networks with Ericsson solution

Faroese Telecom now deploys the Ericsson Group-Radio Mission Critical Push-To-Talk solution.

The Faroe Islands Police service is the first public safety or emergency service authority across the islands to use the mobile broadband-enabled solution via Faroese Telecom’s LTE network.

They are also among the first in Europe to have telecom standards-based Mission-Critical-Push-to-Talk as a primary tool for critical communication. Other public safety and emergency service bodies across the Faroe Islands will follow in a move that will see all responder organizations across the island chain connected via the same solution.

Fit for the future
The solution offers Land Mobile Radio users a migration path to LTE and 5G, while retaining group communication operational capabilities. It provides guaranteed voice and video call connectivity simultaneously to large numbers of public safety, emergency services or first responder professionals in the field.

The remote and geographically diverse nature of the Faroe Islands – 18 rocky, volcanic islands covering approximately 1,000sq km between Iceland and Norway in the North Atlantic Ocean, connected by road tunnels, ferries, causeways and bridges – is expected to make the solution particularly effective across the archipelago. The self-governing territory, part of the Kingdom of Denmark, has a population of about 50,000.

KIMA - A Faroese tradition
The Faroese name of the new service – KIMA – pays tribute to the spirit of traditional community response across the Faroe Islands. The word KIMA in Faroese means ringing. In days gone past church bells would be rung to draw attention to a significant event or when a message had to be communicated across a community. The same ethos is now being applied to emergency or public safety response. This modern KIMA will also demand the immediate attention of all users.

Hans Jákup Langgaard, CEO, Faroese Telecom Samskifti, says: ”We are very happy and also extremely pleased with this state-of-the-art system that we handed over to the Faroese Police today. KIMA is bringing the emergency services across the Faroe Islands closer and ensures frequent and safe communiction on land, at sea and in the air.”

Niclas Backlund, Head of Ericsson Denmark, says: “There has always been a tremendous spirit of togetherness across the Faroe Islands. Faroese Telecom’s KIMA service, based on our Mission Critical Push-to-Talk solution, supports that by ensuring that emergency services and public safety bodies have the very best mobile-broadband enabled communication services to perform their duties. The Faroe Islands are leading the way in showing how all emergency services and public safety bodies can come together under one telecom standards-based solution.”