NORDUnet, the Swedish Research Council (VR), and the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat have received funding from the European Commission for the North Pole Fibre project. A project that aims to deliver strategic network resources as per the European Union’s Digital Global Gateway strategy, to improve the quality and resilience of network connectivity between Europan Union countries, and between the European Union and third countries.
The North Pole Fibre project is set to establish the initial part of fibre network infrastructure for a subsea fibre connection from Sweden via Svalbard to Japan and the Asia-Pacific region. Detailed seabed surveys under the Arctic Sea ice will be conducted as part of the project.
The project will start in Q1 2024 and run for 3 years, with a total budget of 5.75 million Euro.
Funding has been awarded under the Backbone connectivity for Digital Global Gateways call as part of the 2nd round of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF-2 Digital) program. CEF-2 Digital is the European flagship program for the digital sector. The program awards grants for 5G network deployment and securing European network infrastructure between countries. The 3rd round of CEF-2 Digital is open, with a deadline of 20 February 2023.
