Iceland Telecom, (Icelandic: Síminn), also known as Landssíminn, is the previously¹ state-owned telecom company in Iceland. On July 28, 2005, the company was sold to Skipti for ISK 66,7 billion (ca. $1 billion).

　　Síminn has invested heavily in the television industry in Iceland and owns Skjár 1, an Icelandic television channel. Síminn also broadcasts over ADSL and broadband.

　　In December 2005 the company announced that the three companies, Síminn, Íslenska sjónvarpsfélagið (English: The Icelandic Television Company) (which owns Skjár 1) and the parent company, Skipti, would be merged² into one company, called Síminn.

　　History

　　Landssími Íslands was founded by the Icelandic government in 1906 when Iceland was, for the first time, in contact with other countries via phone. In the beginning there were many demonstrations³ against the idea of the phone but Hannes Hafstein, Iceland's first prime minister was able to push the subject through.

　　It took 54 years to put phone lines in the Icelandic country side.

　　In 1935, Landssími Íslands merged with the Icelandic postal⁴ service and a new company, Póstur og Sími, was created. In 1998 the company was split up, the postal service, Íslandspóstur, and the phone service, Landssími Íslands. Today Landssími Íslands uses the name Síminn in Iceland because it is more market friendly.

　　Competition

　　Síminn has always been the biggest player on the Icelandic phone and Internet market. This is because Síminn was, until recently, the only phone company in Iceland. This did change when the first competitor, TAL, started providing mobile services on reduced prices. Others followed, the biggest one being Íslandssími. On the Internet market the competition was a lot tougher, with big names like Íslandssími, Halló!, Margmiðlun and the list goes on. In 2003 TAL, Íslandssími and Halló! merged under the name OgVodafone. OgVodafone has since then bought a few Icelandic Internet Service Providers, including the oldest private one, Margmiðlun.

　　Since TAL was founded, prices have been become a lot lower, specially⁵ when it comes to mobile phones as well as Internet connections. Recently a new ISP was founded in Iceland called HIVE (ISP), providing free download from abroad sparking a new price war on the Icelandic Internet market.