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Telecommunications in Greenland include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
Greenland has, by law, only one service provider fortelecommunications and theInternet,TELE Greenland, which is fully owned by theGreenlandic Home Rule government.[1] TELE Greenland provides switched telephone and data, land mobile communications, and VHF and MF shore-to-ship communication.[2] This type of monopoly is not uncommon in Greenland.
Television in Greenland began in the 1960s.
Privately owned transmitters were created to receive TV from Canada, Iceland, and mainland Denmark. This can date as far back when television was introduced to Greenland in the 1960s. It was possible to receive TV from Canada with a normal household TV antenna, but color transmissions were NTSC and signals were in very bad quality and however in some circumstances, television transmissions were not available at all due to factors such as weather conditions or time of day, even for the people who owned private transmitters. Greenland did not have any local TV service until 1982.
The state broadcaster isKalaallit Nunaata Radioa (KNR, Greenlandic Broadcasting Corporation), which provides one television and one radio service nationwide.[3] Both broadcast in Greenlandic and Danish. Administered as an independent public corporation by theGreenlandic government, KNR has a seven-person board and management committee. They employ 100 people and are funded publicly and by advertising.[4]
A few private local TV and radio stations are also available as Danish public radio rebroadcasts.[5] An umbrella organization in Greenland, known as the STTK, operates local radio and TV stations throughout the country.[6] There are alsoAmerican Forces Network stations, operated by theUnited States Air Force.
Greenlanders owned an estimated 30,000 radios and 30,000 television sets, as of 2002.[7][needs update]
All telephone numbers have 6 digits.
There are adequate domestic and international telephone services, provided by cables andmicrowave radio relay. The system was totally digitized in 1995. TheGreenland Connect submarine cable provides connectivity toEurope viaIceland and toNorth America viaNewfoundland.[9] TELE Greenland first used satellite communication in 1978 and currently uses 15satellite earth stations (12Intelsat, 1Eutelsat, and 2 Americom GE-2), all over theAtlantic Ocean.[5]
As of 2019 there were 66,009 active mobile telephony subscriptions in use in Greenland. In 2007, allNMT (1G) networks were shut down. 4G launched in 2014.[10]
Mobile coverage extends to nearly all inhabited areas in Greenland except some remote areas.
In Greenland,VHF radio-telephone is also used. Users make calls over a radio instead of a phone. Outside of Greenland, VHF phones are mainly used on ships, but in Greenland they can also be used as regular phones. In 2001, 42% of Greenlanders owned a portable VHF phone.
On September 30, 2022,Tele Greenland has collaborated with Swedish Telecommunications providerEricsson in building a5G network in Greenland.[11]
As a territory of theKingdom of Denmark, Greenland has a democratically electedhome-rule government whose powers may encompass all matters except foreign and national security affairs, police services, and monetary matters. Greenlanders have the same rights throughout the kingdom as other citizens.[14]
The Danish government places no restrictions on access to the Internet and there are no credible reports thate-mail or Internetchat rooms are monitored without appropriate legal authority. Authorities continue to employ an Internet filter designed to blockchild pornography. In no known cases did the filter affect legitimate sites. TheDanish Constitution provides forfreedom of speech andpress with some limitations such as cases involving child pornography,libel,blasphemy,hate speech, andracism, and the government generally respects these rights in practice.[14]
In April 2013, the registrar for the .gl domain unilaterally voluntarily suspended resolution ofthepiratebay.gl, intended to be a new primaryDomain Name for the famousBittorrent search engineThe Pirate Bay.[15]
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromThe World Factbook (2025 ed.).CIA. (Archived 2013 edition.) This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theUnited States Department of State.
