Digital infrastructure provider GlobalConnect has joined the Polar Connect consortium, which is looking to build a subsea Internet cable through the North Pole to link Europe and Asia.

Polar Connect intends to lay a 10,000 km cable, which will travel under 2000 km of thick Arctic ice and follow the Northern Sea Route from Europe to Japan and the US.

GlobalConnect will lend its expertise in undersea cables to the project, which is being led by NORDUnet, the Nordic regional research and education network.

Pär Jansson, SVP for GlobalConnect Carrier, said the project represents a “giant leap” forward for future-proof digital infrastructure in northern Europe.

“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,” Jansson said.

In December, Polar Connect was given €4 million ($4.14m) by the European Union to fund phase one of the project, which will involve carrying out detailed mapping of the Arctic seabed to ascertain where a cable can be laid. Such mapping has never been undertaken before.

Once this is complete, Polar Connect will still have to overcome multiple hurdles around funding (laying the cable is likely to cost hundreds of millions of dollars) and obtaining the cable ships and icebreakers required to cut a path through the North Pole. Despite this, it is hoped the project will be online by 2030.

Founded in 1998, GlobalConnect operates a 150,000 km fiber network across Northern Europe. EQT Infrastructure has been the company's majority shareholder since 2016, with Mubadala joining as a minority investor in 2022.

In March 2024, the company completed a 2,600 km fiber cable, running from Northern Sweden to Berlin. The cable includes 700 km of subsea cable and uses the island of Bornholm as the digital gateway between the Nordics and the rest of Europe.

Last year it was reported that the company was looking to sell its data center business unit.

*Check out issue 55 of DCD Magazine for a detailed feature on Polar Connect and the challenges of building subsea infrastructure in the Arctic.