For both technical and political reasons, the timing is right for building submarine cables connecting Northern Europe to East Asia through the Arctic Ocean. This was the key message when Erik-Jan Bos, Senior Advisor at NORDUnet, addressed the Submarine Networks EMEA conference in London at the end of May 2024.
The conference is the leading annual submarine cable event in the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) region, bringing together some 1,000 senior leaders from the global submarine cable community and interested parties. Submarine optical fiber cables are by far the most effective solution for long-range transmission of large volumes of data. But while numerous connections exist in most other waters, the Arctic is an exception. This is because the necessary technology for laying cables in the Arctic Ocean has only recently been maturing.
A status update for the Polar Connect initiative and NPF project
In his talk, Erik-Jan Bos gave a status update for the Polar Connect project and the plans for a submarine cable to take a route east of Greenland, almost touching the geographic North Pole, and make landfall in Japan and South Korea, also making landfall in Northern Canada and Alaska along the way.
The Nordic National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) and NORDUnet are leading the preparations. The NPF project, co-funded by the European Union and carried out by the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat and NORDUnet, is the first step towards realising Polar Connect.
“Taking advantage of a short and unique route through the Arctic Ocean, uniting Europe and East Asian countries, Polar Connect will contribute to increasing digital strategic autonomy for all economies involved,” says Erik-Jan Bos.
“Further, Polar Connect will spur innovation in several areas, including sensors on the cable to better understand climate change.”
Threats to existing connections
The Nordic NRENs and NORDUnet recently published the Vision 2030 paper for a resilient submarine cable system through the Arctic, and, in January 2024, launched the NPF project to begin realising Polar Connect.
Besides Polar Connect, the Far North Fiber (FNF) is being prepared. FNF is intended to link Europe and Japan through the North-West Passage between Greenland and Northern Canada.
Both Polar Connect and FNF are well aligned with EU and international policies aiming to increase capacity and redundancy for the world’s digital infrastructure, avoid congestion on the current gateways and increase European sovereignty in a time of geopolitical tension.
“This is not least true for the Red Sea, where hostile activities have already damaged submarine cables. This is yet another reason why having resilient submarine cable systems across the Arctic Ocean will be a game changer,” Erik-Jan Bos notes.