Telenor Norway secured a long-term R&D agreement with the Norwegian Defense Research Institute (FFI) to provide the armed forces with connectivity and technological resources, with the wider aim of strengthening digital infrastructure.

In a joint statement, the operator said the deal will pave the way for collaborations to advance the country’s military technology, including use cases around 5G technology.

Under the partnership, Telenor will help the defence arm in building communications infrastructure across the Norwegian military facilities, with the army’s main base in Southern Norway as the first stop.

The duo added they will trial new technologies at the military headquarters, naming WiFi 6, cloud and edge computing, wide area network (WAN) and 5G as areas of exploration.

Director general at FFI Kenneth Ruud (pictured, right) said the agreement will help ensure “total defence capability” for the armed forces and highlighted the pair has “competence and strengths that complement each other”.

Telenor Norway CEO Birgitte Engebretsen (pictured, left) also emphasised the importance of innovation in the defence sector.

“It is a paradigm shift that you can now work together on commercially available technology that is under continuous development, instead of proprietary solutions that can become outdated faster and are very expensive”, Engebretsen added.