Photo: Erkki Kitkiöjoki

Arctic Telecommunications Infrastructure: Past, Present and Future

Time: 17-18 September 2025
Place: Arctic Centre, University of Lapland (Rovaniemi)

Language and format: English, onsite event
Registration: Free of charge, pre-registration is needed: https://forms.gle/4KwDmpch3rwGstZp6

Organized by: Telecommunications infrastructure, time, community, and the Arctic environment-project
Supported by: UArctic Thematic Network on Arctic Telecommunications and Networking

Program:

17.9.2025:
12:00 Opening remarks and introduction
12:15-13:45 Session 1: Arctic telecommunications infrastructure: local needs and local voices 1
Speaker 1: Heather Hudson, Internet and Broadband in Rural Alaska: Innovation and Challenges for Indigenous Development
Speaker 2: Mette Simonsen Abildgaard, Pacing Modernity: Infrastructure Time in Postwar Greenland
Speaker 3: Ritva Kylli, Telephone Infrastructure Changing the Environment in the Arctic
13:45-14:15 Coffee break
14:15-15:45 Session 2: Arctic telecommunications infrastructure: local needs and local voices 2
Speaker 4: Jaap van de Beek, Past and future of cellular networks; Are we all covered?
Speaker 5: Hirley Alves, The path toward 6G Resilience
Speaker 6: Katri Kuusela and Juho Saavalainen , “Mobile technology sledge”
18:00 Self-paid dinner

18.9.2025 (tentatively 09:00-13:00)
09:00-10:30 Session 3: The role of the Arctic in international and global telecommunications networks
Speaker 7: Juha Saunavaara, Trans-Arctic submarine cable projects: past developments and a word about hybrid governance
Speaker 8: Steen Louis Hansen, Arctic Connectivity between Europe and Japan/Asia through PACS
Speaker 9: Juha Oinonen, Funet and Research Networking in Arctic
10:30-11:30 Session 4: Arctic telecommunications infrastructure and security
Speaker 10: Michael Delaunay, The history of the development of the telecommunication network in northern Canada:
a military oriented network?
Speaker 11: Mirva Salminen: Telecommunications infrastructure shaping everyday security in the European Arctic
11:30-12:30 Lunch
12:30-13:30 Wrap-up discussion and ideas for future collaboration
16:00 Opening of a special exhibition on telecommunications in Northern Finland.