In 2007, a benchmarking study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) showed Iceland to be a favorable location for new data centre activity. The report concluded with Iceland being supportive and welcoming in the respect of issues as governmental legislation, immigration and permits.
Operational cost for data centres in Iceland is minimum due to the low cost cooling and electricity. Presently, the Icelandic power company Landsvirkjun is offering electricity contracts at the price of 43 USD/MWh. Those competitive rates are available as fixed for up to 12 years. Furthermore, Iceland has significantly less of a security risk than almost any other Western or emerging countries. Its geographic location, low population density and lowered post-Cold War strategic value make it an unlikely target for either external or internal forces.
The Icelandic infrastructure for telecommunications networks and services is highly advanced. Mobile phone and Internet penetration in Iceland are among the highest in the world. Iceland is linked with Europe and North America via number of fiber-optic submarine systems. They are Farice-1 to the UK (with a capacity of 0.72 terabits per second and was originally installation in 2003), the Danice cable to Denmark and the Netherlands (with a capacity of 5.1 terabits per second), and Greenland Connect which connects Iceland to Canada and the Northeast United States (with a total capacity of 1.9 terabits per second). Additionally, the new Emerald Express trans-Atlantic cable (with a connection to Iceland) is scheduled to be ready for service before end of this year (2013).
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