Satellite regulation

With the adoption of law no. 31 of 23 November 2017 on telecommunications and telecommunications services, Inatsisartut has decided that the Government must have the exclusive right to offer telecommunications services in, to and from Greenland as well as the construction and operation of telecommunications infrastructure in Greenland that enables electronic communication between cities and settlements and abroad. This is justified by a desire to ensure sufficient traffic volume, and thus income, for the expansion and maintenance of the publicly available telecommunications infrastructure.

Naalakkersuisut has granted Tusass A/S a concession (a governing company) exclusive rights to offer, among other things, satellite services in Greenland according to the government's executive order on concession for TELE Greenland A/S § 1, subsection 1, no. 4, cf. Inatsisart Act No. 31 of 23 November 2017 on telecommunications and telecommunications services § 1.

This means that only Tusass A/S may offer satellite services to Greenlandic end users, including setting up equipment for satellite communication. Exceptions to this are satellite reception of radio and television programmes.

If end users buy and set up equipment and use services from e.g. Starlink, this is thus contrary to the provisions of Section 1 of the Telecommunications Act, and thus illegal.

Security of supply

In the current financing model for maintenance and development of the telecommunications infrastructure, geographical and solidarity price equalization is used, which means that citizens in densely populated areas help to pay for Tusass A/S to maintain and establish telecommunications infrastructure throughout the country, so that the population in the outer areas also has access to telecommunications.

The special condition for telecommunications in Greenland is that the development and maintenance of the telecommunications infrastructure is associated with very high costs, and that the customer base, i.e. the population that must finance this is small and scattered. The exclusive right and the concession ensure therefore that all Greenlandic end users can access telecommunications services.