Telenor Kystradio (formerly Telenor Maritim Radio) was part of Telenor and provided maritime telecommunication services along the coast of Norway, operating networks of marine VHF radio, medium frequency, high frequency and Navtex transmitters. On January 1, 2026, Telenor Kystradio's activities were taken over by the state. The radio service is now operated by Hovedredningssentralen, the Joint Rescue Coordination Centres, and technical infrastructure and administration is now the responsibility of the Norwegian Coastal Administration (Kystverket) and the Norwegian Maritime Authority (Sjøfartsdirektoratet). As of January 2018 there were two coastal radio stations in Norway, Kystradio nord and Kystradio sør. The agency also issued marine radio licenses for both commercial- and pleasure ships, including callsigns and Maritime Mobile Service Identities, as well as radio operator certificates. Telenor Kystradio head office was based at Telenor Norway's head office at Fornebu. Telenor Kystradio also performed GMDSS Radio inspections, and was approved by the Norwegian Maritime Authority as well as most mayor classification authorities. The Radioinspeksjonen is located in Oslo, Stavanger, Bergen, Ålesund, Sandnessjøen, Bodø, Lofoten and Troms.
History
The Royal Norwegian Navy was the first user of wireless telegraphy in Norway, when they purchased two Slaby–Arco units in 1901. They were installed on Eidsvold and Frithjof and tested the equipment out of the main base, Karljohansvern.Rinde: 377 Tests the first year failed to reach Færder Lighthouse, but when moved to Jeløya and the equipment recalibrated the following summer, the tests were successful. Additional sets were installed, especially after wireless telegraphy's successfully implementation in the Japanese Navy during the 1904–05 Russo-Japanese War. The Ministry of Defence approved the construction of two radio stations, Tjøme Radio near Tønsberg and Flekkerøy Radio near Kristiansand, in 1905. These and later ship radios were delivered by Telefunken. This was followed up with including telegraphy as part of the training at the Norwegian Naval Academy and the establishment of a workshop at Karljohansvern, allowing the navy to repair and build their own stations. All coastal defense ships and torpedo boats had received wireless stations by 1909.Rinde: 378
The Telegraphy Administration took contact with the Marconi Company in 1899 to inquire about purchasing wireless systems. The thought had been to use a wireless connection to places where laying a cable would be prohibitively expensive, but high license costs caused them to dismiss a purchase. The agency established a cooperation with the navy in 1901,Rinde: 381 and the following year the decided to launch a program to establish wireless connections to the islands of Røst, Værøy, Træna and Grip. Røst and Værøy were selected for a trial to connected them to Sørvågen, based on the high costs of laying a cable in Moskstraumen, estimated at five times the cost of a wireless system. The system would also act as a trial to select a manufacturer. Marconi was disregarded because of its high price, but both Telefunken and Société Française de Télégraphes & Téléphones sans fils systems were installed in 1903 on a trial basis.Rinde: 382
Røst was selected as the initial site and AEG started installing the system in 1905. When Røst Radio and Sørvågen Radio opened in 1906, it was the second wireless telegraphy system in the world connected to the wired telegraphy network.Rinde: 385 Following the decision to create an international conversion on wireless telegraphy, resulting in Parliament deciding in 1907 that a permit would be required for a ship to operate a radio.Rinde: 388 The law was also specified so that private and municipal entities could not operate their own wireless network.Kallelid: 41 By then two Norwegian merchant ships were equipped with radios: Ellis and Preston. Both were owned by D. & A. Irgens and operating in American waters and had been equipped by the shipper, the United Fruit Company. The first ship in Norwegian waters was Det Nordenfjeldske Dampskibsselskap's Kong Harald in 1909. Two years there were 29 Norwegian ships with ship radios.Rinde: 389
The navy's radio stations at Tjøme and Flekkerøy were taken over by the Telegraphy Administration in 1910, free of charge.Rinde: 394 The conditions were that the navy would have full control of all coast radio stations during war, that the navy's telegrams have the highest priority after distress and that they be consulted for further development of the network.Rinde: 396 Værøy Radio opened the same year. The Telegraphy Administration launched a national plan in 1910 for building a network of coast radio stations, which would cover the coastline and included plans for a transatlantic service and a radio on Spitsbergen. The politician's main motivation were not tied to Norway having the world's third-largest merchant marine, but rather tied to the use by fisheries and coastal traffic.
The Arctic Coal Company, based at Longyear City on Spitsbergen, took contact with the Telegraphy Administration in 1910 and requested that there be established a radio telegraphy network between the archipelago and Norway. Svalbard was then terra nullius and not part of Norway. To avoid an American company establishing a station on territory the authorities hoped would become part of Norway, the proposal was passed after three weeks' administrative and political proceedings.Rinde: 401 This resulted in Spitsbergen Radio (from 1920 Svalbard Radio) and Ingøy Radio being established.Kallelid: 43 The service made it popular to install radios on larger fishing vessels and allowed weather observations to be sent to the Norwegian Meteorological Institute.Kallelid: 45
The Telegraphy Administration proposed in 1911 that all larger passenger and post-carrying ships should be required to have a radio, but the proposal was rejected by the government.Rinde: 390 Bergen Radio was originally proposed as a joint venture between the Telegraphy Administration and the navy, whereby the former would build the station and the latter would operate it. Instead the station was built and operated by the civilian agency. It was placed on top of the mountain Rundemanen, at above mean sea level.Rinde: 397 With a 5-kilowatt transmitter, this allowed it to send telegrams to ships mid-way in the Atlantic. For the first year after it opened in 1912, it sent 1,500 telegrams.Kallelid: 42 Bergen and Røst Radios were able to guide Italia to Narvik during a storm in 1913, and in 1915 Irma was able to help the drifting Iris after an SOS had been sent.
The Telegraphy Administration proposed in 1913 that all ship radios should be operated by the agency.Rinde: 392 Motivations included a desire to accelerate installation of such systems, difficulties controlling systems, which was at the time a problem with shortcomings on private telephone networks, and to avoid private monopolies. The proposal was dismissed by the government For the coast stations there were no proposals of permitting private installations.Rinde: 393 Funding was kept down, as it was competing with grants to expand the telephony network. Lack of coast stations caused ship-owners to not install ship radios, which again caused the authorities to down-prioritize construction of coast stations.
Plans for a direct connection between Scandinavia and the United States was launched in 1910. Prices on transatlantic telegrams were high because of transit fares and made Norway dependent on foreign cable companies. A sea cable was estimated to cost between 30 and 40 million Norwegian krone (NOK), while a wireless connection proposed in 1912 was estimated to cost 2 million. Early estimates showed that the project would not be profitable.Kallelid: 47 The plans were passed in Parliament, but because of a slight delay, construction was placed on hold during World War I (1914–1918), and Stavanger Radio did not open until 1919.Kallelid: 48 The spark-gap transmitter created interference with other American radio stations and was soon out of date. A new NOK 1.5-million vacuum tube transmitter was installed in 1922 and the receiver station, originally at Nærbø, was moved to Fornebu in 1925. Jeløy Radio was created a few years later and Stavanger Radio was closed.Kallelid: 50
By 1920 there were 149 Norwegian-registered ships with wireless telegraphy, a number which doubled the following year following a British requirement to have a ship radio to call at British ports. Focus shifted towards closing the "radiofree gaps" to allow continuous coverage along the coast. Utsira Radio opened in 1919 and could cover all of the North Sea, including those areas which could not be reached from Bergen. In 1920 Kristiania Radio (renamed Oslo Radio in 1924) and in 1921 Fauske Radio opened as transit radio stations; Svolvær Radio opened in connection with Fauske.Kallelid: 51 Grip Radio opened in 1920, but only had sufficient capacity to communicate with Kristiansund Radio.Rafto: 391
Bergen Radio became the first station to receive a vacuum tube transmitter in 1922. Because they produced continuous wave, Bergen Radio started transmitting a twice-daily audio weather forecast, in addition to the telegraphy weather forecasts. The first ships with vacuum receivers were the Norwegian America Line's Bergensfjord and Stavangerfjord. Vadsø Radio opened in 1923 and could reach the White Sea with its vacuum tube transmitters.Rafto: 520 Ålesund Radio opened in 1925,Elveland: 8 the same year as duplex operations began at Bergen with a receiver station in Fyllingsdalen.Rafto: 524 Medico services were launched out of Bergen Radio from 1923, a free service which allowed for medical diagnosis and treatment advice from physicians at Haukeland Hospital.Rafto: 538
High frequency (HF) services were introduced in 1927, allowing messages to penetrate globally. The most important use was reaching fishing vessels in the Antarctic and increased the use of private telegrams by seamen.Kallelid: 53 Implementation was slow: by 1935 HF transmitters had been installed on about 100 Norwegian ships, and 450 ships by 1940. Wireless telephony was introduced at Bergen Radio in 1931 and by 1939 the service covered the entire coast.Kallelid: 54 In 1940 there were 70 communities which had their telephone network connected to the national network by wireless transmission.Rafto: 536 From 1927 new spark-gap transmitters over 300 watts were not permitted and all such transmitters had to be phased out by 1940. Implementation of vacuum tube transmitters was slow: by 1937, 600 of 1000 Norwegian ships with a ship radio still had spark-gap transmitters. The coast stations all received vacuum tube transmitters by 1935.Rafto: 521
Jan Mayen Radio opened in 1927,Rafto: 532 Trondheim RadioRafto: 528 and Hammerfest Radio opened in 1929Rafto: 530 followed by Isfjord Radio on Svalbard in 1933,Rafto: 531 Bjørnøya Radio on Svalbard in 1934, and Rørvik Radio in 1935. The Telegraphy Administration established six radio stations on the east coast of Greenland in 1932: Karlsbakk, Myggbukta, Jonsbu, Storfjord, Torgilsbu and Finnbus. These were used for a combination of meteorological reports and serving the fishing fleet. The first two radio stations to close were Røst, Fauske and Flekkerøy, all in 1938. Flekkerøy was replaced by Farsund Radio, while Fauske was replaced with Bodø Radio. The same year Florø Radio opened.Rafto: 527 There were thirteen operational coast stations in 1939,Espelid: 157 and from the mid-1930s these were all staffed around the clock.Espelid: 158