NORDUnet is invited to present the progress in establishing submarine cables through the Arctic Ocean as Asia-Pacific research and education networks convene in Japan.
The shortest route from Asia to Europe runs close to the North Pole. On top of this indisputable fact come new arguments in support of establishing submarine cables connecting the two continents through the Arctic Ocean.
“Following the events at the international scene, the global geopolitical situation is undergoing significant changes. This has spurred interest in more direct relations between Asia and Europe, and submarine cables are a big part of that agenda,” says NORDUnet’s Ieva Muraškienė.
She is invited to present the ongoing progress on establishment of the Polar Connect submarine cable system at the 59th APAN (Asia Pacific Advanced Network) conference in Yokohama, Japan. Furthermore, NORDUnet CEO Valter Nordh will take part in a high-level panel discussion at the conference. Here, the subject will be infrastructure resilience and new science opportunities, including those expected from the Arctic connections.
“The hope for the panel discussion will be to raise awareness on the advantages of connecting Japan directly to Europe. Currently, all traffic todays goes either over the US which is a long path or over the Suez Canal which is a politically unstable region. By connecting through the Arctic, you will be opening the whole Asia-Pacific region for a new direct path to Europe,” says Valter Nordh.
Half the length of current connections
APAN is an organization that fosters collaboration of national research and education networks (NRENs) in Asia and Oceania and operated an Asia backbone network connecting member countries and regions to each other and to other international research and education networks.
Polar Connect is a proposed subsea cable on a direct route east of Greenland, close to the geographical North Pole, aiming to connect Europe, North America and Japan on the shortest possible route. NORDUnet is acting as a catalyst to form a Europe-based alliance to build the cable system and secure 10 % of the capacity of the fiber for European research and education.
For Polar Connect several possible cable routes are under consideration. As part of the Northern EU Gateways program, NORDUnet has worked on assessing the feasibility of this Arctic route. Further on, the work continues in the North Pole Fiber and Polar Connect Step 1 projects with a simulation of the Arctic route using the currently available data from the Arctic Ocean seabed. Both projects are co-funded by the European Commisison.
Today, approximately 90% of data communication between Europe and Asia travels via the Red Sea, which presents both geographic and geopolitical challenges. Polar Connect’s route through the Arctic is the shortest path between Europe and Asia. Polar Connect is half the length of current connections, which reduces the time required to send a data packet by the same proportion.
Funding in place for seabed surveys
NORDUnet did an introductory presentation on the Arctic connections two years ago when the 55th APAN conference was held in Nepal. Since then, several new developments have unfolded.
“Firstly, the Polar Connect partners have obtained funding from the EU Commission for a 3-year project which will allow to conduct Arctic seabed surveys during the coming three summers. Further, Stockholm University is currently working on virtual seabed simulation to help examine seabed conditions for the Polar Connect route. These investigations are important steps towards defining the final route for Polar Connect,” says Ieva Muraškienė, continuing:
“Secondly, we continue to build strong partnerships. For instance, Danish NREN DeiC, and submarine cable operator GlobalConnect, have joined the CEF co-funded Polar Connect Step 1 as partners. GlobalConnect will produce a market study and an initial business plan. These will be highly useful in our communication as we approach both public and private potential partners.”
Raising visibility in Asia
Recently, a range of European partners signed a joint Memorandum of Understanding, recognising the strategic value of a Pan-Arctic Cable System (PACS).
“The European momentum for the Arctic connections is strong, and we are beginning to see a similar development on the Asian side. In December 2024, the Swedish government organized a symposium in Japan on Polar Connect. Here, interest from both Japanese and other East-Asian stakeholders was high. The APAN conference is an opportunity to raise the visibility of the Arctic connections further,” ends Ieva Muraškienė.
The 59th APAN (Asia Pacific Advanced Network) conference is held in Yokohama, Japan, March 3-7, 2025.
