A consortium that plans to build the first optical cable The Arctic submarine project said on the 2nd that the project, which is expected to cost 1.1 billion euros (about 1.15 billion dollars), received its first investment.
It will be the first cable of fiber optics It will be placed under the Arctic seabed, linking Europe and Japan through North America as part of the global internet infrastructure, developers say.
Previously, the project had planned to cooperate with Megaphon Telecom, Russia's second-largest mobile operator, to lay cables along Russia's Arctic coast. But those plans were scrapped last year.
Finnish company Sinia, which is leading the Far North Fiber Optic Project, said the reason for the cancellation was Russia's growing reluctance to authorize the laying of cables on its territory.
Far North Optical Fiber is a cooperative project of Signia Corporation, US-based Far North Digital Corporation, and Japan's Atria Corporation.
“We have seen some signs of a strengthening of Russian nationalism, and that is what we have experienced as we have moved forward with this project,” Signia CEO Knapila told reporters.
The cable, which stretches from northern Europe to Japan via Greenland, Canada and Alaska, will reduce data transmission delays between Frankfurt and Tokyo by 30 percent, he said.
The Nordic Research and Education Network, based in Kastrup, Denmark, said it had signed a letter of intent to invest in the Far North Fiber Optic Project, investing in one of the 12 proposed pairs of submarine cables to be built.
The Far North Fiber Optic Project consortium did not disclose the exact amount of the investment, but a source said that the construction of a pair of submarine cables cost around 100 million euros and another 100 million euros in maintenance costs over their 30-year lifespan.
Knapila said that the existing network's optical cables between Europe and Asia mainly pass through the Suez Canal, where the optical cables are easily damaged due to heavy maritime traffic.
“We are increasingly dependent on the network, and its availability depends on how many alternative routes are available,” he said.
Signia, controlled by the Finnish state, is involved in the project because it has the task of improving and diversifying Finland's connectivity with the outside world, which is currently based mainly on cable connections between it and Europe.
Post time: Dec-09-2022
