GlobalConnect completes largest Nordic digital infrastructure project in a decade

After clearing 200 bombs from WW2, creating five new subsea routes, and having trenched the Baltic Sea seabed with a specially developed submarine, GlobalConnect has finalized the construction of its 2,600 km super fiber cable, capable of transporting all data in the Nordics. The price of the project is 1 billion SEK and it will serve as a critical infrastructure connection in the Nordics and to mainland Europe.

The cable runs from Northern Sweden to Berlin, spanning over three countries and will act as an important digital gateway between Europe and the Nordics for decades. With the project complete, GlobalConnect’s fiber network now spans over 200,000 km in Northern Europe.

“This cable will take part in futureproofing and strengthening the digital infrastructure in Northern Europe. It caters for more robustness with diverse options to route traffic resulting in improved national security in our region. The improved digital infrastructure is also a key factor in attracting global tech companies, as the Nordics is currently a global hotspot for tech investments and approximately half of all datacenter investments in Europe are expected to go to the Nordics in the coming years”, says Martin Lippert, CEO GlobalConnect.

The fiber cable runs from Sweden to Denmark and from Denmark to Germany, including 700 km subsea cables with the island of Bornholm acting as the digital gateway between the Nordics and Europe. The construction of the super cable has taken several years and includes heavy trenching in the Northern parts of Sweden, facing the harsh winter storms of the Baltic Sea, trenching the seabed with a submarine, and using massive drills to create landing points on several beachheads.

To make room for the landing site in Germany, more than 200 bombs from the WW2 had to be removed from the Baltic Sea and 1,300 sqm km was scanned looking for potential archeological findings.

“This project is a massive achievement and a key enabler for future digitalization. There is an ever-increasing demand for fiber in the Nordics. Most of the digital infrastructure between Sweden and Germany is 20 years old and the few existing cables have limited number of fibers available for new demand. A fiber shortage risks constituting a bottleneck for the continued digitalization and the possibilities to reach EU targets for digitalization, says Martin Lippert, CEO at GlobalConnect.

By strengthening the digital connections between Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Europe, the goal of the project is to contribute to both EU and national goals for high-speed digital access and facilitate economic growth with lower climate impact. The cable also brings a tremendous capacity upgrade which is critical to meet the current and future capacity demand generated by AI. The cable will also empower municipalities and regions to continue its digitalization and enhance capabilities to attract more business establishments, increasing competitiveness and providing better prices for end consumers.

“The cable also caters to the high demand for more capacity and robustness. Good robust digital infrastructure combined with access to renewable green energy are critical factors for global tech companies looking to establish datacenters here. In the Nordic you have great access to both. For GlobalConnect, this project is a massive undertaking, and we will keep investing in digital infrastructure and similar projects throughout our region for many years to come”, says Lippert.

The cable consists of 96 fiber pairs and has the capacity to transport all data in the Nordics, i.e 3,052 tps (terabits per second), equivalent to 1 billion simultaneous video streams videos. With the cable constructed, GlobalConnect’s fiber network now spans over 200.000 km across Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Finland.

The cable between Bornholm and Sassnitz has now been merged on the seabed and tests will be conducted before the cables’ full capacity will be put into use in Q1 2024.