Icelandic telecoms firm Farice is planning a new subsea cable linking Iceland and the UK.

The company last week announced plans for Auður, a new cable linking Iceland to Scotland.

A marine survey for the cable route is scheduled for summer 2027. If plans proceed as expected, the cable is anticipated to be operational by 2030.

Likely to land in Glasgow, the system is expected to total 16-24 fiber pairs.

“The time has come to further strengthen Iceland’s telecommunications infrastructure by building a new high-capacity cable,” said Thorvardur Sveinsson, CEO of Farice. “Through the new cable, we will create a new low-latency route between Iceland and Europe’s key network hubs as well and further strengthen the digital bridge within the Nordics. Icelandic data centers can be seamlessly integrated into network topologies, bridging the US and Nordic markets. The Nordic region is rapidly emerging as a major data center hub, making interconnectivity with the Nordics ever more important.“

Founded in 2002, Farice owns and operates the Farice-1, Danice, and Íris subsea cables, linking Iceland to the UK, mainland Europe, and Ireland, respectively. Farice-1, the company’s first cable. was deployed back in 2004.

The new cable is named after Auður the Deep-Minded (Auður djúpúðga Ketilsdóttir), a 9th-century settler who sailed from Scotland to Iceland and is referenced in Icelandic sagas.