Altibox has acquired 100% of shares in Skagenfiber and its projected fiber optic cable between Norway and Denmark, thus completing the international Euroconnect-1 ring.
Skagenfiber, once live towards the end of 2020, will attract an international clientele of data centre operators and telecom carriers, further enhancing Norway’s appeal as a digital host nation.
The Euroconnect-1 ring has already planned and announced the NO-UK subsea cable between Stavanger and Newcastle, ready for service in 2021. The Skagenfiber, ready for service in 2020, will further strengthen and enhance the international Euroconnect-1 fiber ring.
Skagenfibers 170km long subsea cable stretches from Hirtshals on the northern coast of Denmark to Larvik on the southern coast of Norway with onwards connections to the data centre hub of the Oslo region.
“There is a significant requirement for high capacity fiber connections between Norway and mainland Europe. The combination of the two subsea cables, ‘NO-UK’ and ‘Skagenfiber’, will in their robustness and combined capacity meet the ever-increasing demands for first class digital infrastructure in Norway. More than that, they will connect Norwegian businesses to the world and significantly increase the attractiveness of Norway as a digital host nation to international data centres,” said Toril Nag, group executive vice president of Lyse’s telecoms division and chairwoman of Altibox.
The Skagenfiber construction begins early in the new year and the cable will be ready for service towards the end of 2020.
“We are tremendously excited to join forces with Altibox and start the realisation of this network asset, the planning of which has been more than 2 years in the making. There is keen interest in the market for first class connectivity to Norway, and in combination with the investments Altibox are making in NO-UK and Euroconnect-1, the Skagenfiber cable will most certainly place Norway firmly on the map,” added Geir Holmer, the Skagenfiber CEO.