23 Altibox partners create a joint tower company to ensure rapid development of Ice's national 5G mobile network. Midt-Telemark Breiband AS will play a central role in the development.

Ice is now building 3,900 new base stations, and upgrading over 3,200 base stations. The newly established Tårnselskapet AS is owned by a total of 23 regional and local companies, all of whom have extensive experience in developing digital infrastructure. The mobile network of the future depends on secure infrastructure and fiber between the base stations, which Midt-Telemark Breiband AS are experts in.

"As a co-owner of Tårnselskapet, we strengthen our contribution to ensuring that everyone in Norway has access to high-speed internet", says general manager Jon Vegheim of Midt-Telemark Breiband AS.

The tower company will give the various Altibox partners part ownership of the many mobile masts that are being rolled out on a large scale throughout Norway. The new and existing base stations will be used by mobile operator Ice, which is building out Norway's third nationwide 5G mobile network. With the 5G network, Altibox partners will be able to offer high-speed broadband in areas where fiber is not available, or create competition in areas where consumers only have offers from one operator today.

"We are delighted that the Altibox partners want to contribute to this large-scale development of socially critical digital infrastructure. It is precisely the cooperation between the partners that enables us to offer Norway's fastest 5G mobile network and high-speed broadband to everyone as quickly as possible," says Jan-Erik Hvidsten, chairman of Tårnselskapet AS and director of technology at Ice.

Midt-Telemark Breiband AS is owned by Telemark Energi AS, Notodden Energi AS and Kinck AS. Midt-Telemark Breiband AS has offices in Lienveien in Notodden.

The following companies are part of Tårnselskapet AS:

Afiber AS
Altifiber AS
Bergen Fiber AS
Bruse AS
Eidsiva Bredbånd AS
Finnås Kraftlag AS
Fitjar Kraftlag SA
Haugaland Kraft Fiber AS
Istad Fiber AS
Klepp Energi AS
Kragerø Bredbånd AS
Lofotkraft Bredbånd AS
Lyse Fiber AS
Midt-Telemark Breiband AS
Nordkraft Fiber AS
Nordvest Fiber AS
Notodden Energi AS
NTE Telekom AS
Sandefjord Bredbånd AS
Signal Bredbånd AS
Telefiber AS
Vesterålskraft Bredbånd AS
Viken Fiber AS

The 23 fiber partners each have a share of 2.45%. Lyse Fiberinvest owns the rest of the company (43.7%). The tower company will own all mobile towers that are built in connection with the massive development of Ice's national 5G mobile network. The tower company will also manage existing towers in Ice as well as rent space in the mobile masts to other mobile operators.