Development of the Arctic region requires good connectivity

Ministry of Transport and Communications
Publication date 20.11.2017 15.08
News item
Photo: Rodeo
Photo: Rodeo

A Task Force on Improved Connectivity in the Arctic (TFICA) that operates under the Arctic Council will meet in Helsinki on Tuesday 21 November. The task force is chaired by Finland and Denmark together.

The mandate of TFICA is to find ways to improve connectivity in the Arctic region to support the needs of local people, maritime transport, search and rescue services, research and tourism. The task force will also examine ways to implement the required telecommunications infrastructure and systems so as to allow services for the entire Arctic region.

Finnish expertise in developing connectivity will be on the agenda of the meeting that will hear representatives of the Finnish Meteorological Institute and businesses in the sector. TFICA's aim is to examine, together with telecommunications operators and industry, the technologies and available services in the Arctic regions.

TFICA consists of representatives from all eight Arctic Council states, indigenous peoples, six permanent working groups, as well as observer countries and organisations.

Finland assumed the two-year chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2017. Connectivity is one of the key themes of Finland's chairmanship. The Fairbanks ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council in May 2017 decided to establish a so-called temporary task force, Task Force on Improved Connectivity in the Arctic (TFICA). It continues the work of the Task Force on Telecommunications Infrastructure in the Arctic (TFTIA) that was active in the United States' chairmanship.