Press release -
GlobalConnect joins Nordic project to develop global Arctic fiber cable linking Europe, Asia, and the US
A Nordic consortium of five, are exploring the possibility of building one of the largest digital infrastructure projects in European history – a fiber cable spanning between Northern Europe and East Asia and US via the Arctic. The Project, called Polar Connect, has been granted 4 million Euros from the European Commission to fund the project phase: Polar Connect Step 1.
Today, 90% of all data communication between Europe & Asia passes through the Red Sea, a route increasingly impacted by geopolitical challenges. The ambition of the Polar Connect project is to offer a significantly safer and shorter route via the Arctic, which will decrease the time to send data, cut latency and improve resilience.
As part of this initiative, GlobalConnect will be a part of an international consortium with the aim to strengthen digital resilience and security in our digitized world.
“We are excited to announce our participation in this groundbreaking Nordic consortium. At GlobalConnect, we work tirelessly to future-proof the digital infrastructure in Northern Europe and beyond and this project represents a giant leap in that plan. By enabling a faster, more secure digital link between Europe, Asia, and the US, we are catering to the accelerated global demand for high data capacity and resilient digital infrastructure that empowers our society,” says Pär Jansson, SVP, GlobalConnect Carrier.
GlobalConnect brings several years of experience from deploying sea cables in Scandinavia, recently completing the largest digital infrastructure project in the Nordics for the last decade, a 2600 km fiber cable from Northern Sweden to Berlin, capable of transporting all data in the Nordics.
An ambitious long-term project
Polar Connect Step 1 starts in 2025, with bottom surveys of the optimal route and other preparations being made. The Swedish government is discussing the build of a brand-new ice breaker vessel, capable of breaking through four-meter-thick and unexplored Arctic ice. When the cable is to be laid, the new vessel and the Swedish ice breakerOden will be used simultaneously. The cable is set to be deployed at ~4000-meter depth in the Arctic Ocean - and is planned to be ready by 2030.
The Nordic partners behind Polar Connect
Vetenskapsrådet via Sunet
NORDUnet
Polarforskningssekretariatet
Danmarks Tekniske Universitet
GlobalConnect
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or HaDEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
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About GlobalConnect
GlobalConnect is one of the leading digital infrastructure and data communication providers in the Nordic region, driving more than half of all data traffic in and out of the Nordics. GlobalConnect delivers fiber-based broadband services to more than 830,000 private consumers and end-to-end connectivity solutions to 30,000 B2B customers via its 243,000 kilometer fiber network across Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Finland. GlobalConnect employs approximately 2,000 people and had a turnover of SEK 7.6 billion in 2023.
