Iceland’s spectrum regulator, PFS, has bought ATDI’s flagship planning and modelling tool ICS telecom to help it manage and exploit the country’s spectrum resources.

Iceland, with a population of just 322,000, is slowly recovering from 2008’s banking and financial crisis. Now bolstered by increasingly positive economic news and a higher status from ratings agencies such as Fitch, the island nation is growing in confidence once more.

“PFS’s purchase of ICS telecom is definitely with one eye on the future,” notes ATDI Ltd access networks lead engineer Paul Grant. “ICS telecom is the perfect tool for both seeing what you have and what you can do with it so, clearly, the management at PFS is looking at what new services are feasible as economic confidence grows – while also bearing in mind Iceland’s unique geography.”

The country’s population is concentrated in the capital city, Reykjavík, which is home to 120,000 people. The other 202,000 are scattered at a density of three per square kilometre; the equivalent figure for England is 407.

“Europe’s most active volcano, spewing clouds of dust and potentially affecting telecommunication and broadcast networks, is only one of PFS’s many challenges. The UK is only too aware of the effects of recent eruptions but a lesser known fact is the effect of volcanic ash on signal attenuation and reduced signal strength. Modelling real-life scenarios with ICS telecom enables the regulator to understand the impact of such an occurrence and provide mitigation solutions.”

“Saying that, statistics gathered from recent eruptions show that the largest disruption comes from overloading due to high user demand,” Paul comments. “Being able to manage increased network traffic during emergencies is an integral feature ICS telecom and one used by many blue-light service networks globally.”