UK-Norway cable completed in 2021

The project partners recently finalized their seabed surveying work, and have announced that the project is on track for completion in 2021.

Invest in Bergen, and its sister organization GreenByte, have supported this project that will improve connection speeds between Norway and the rest of the world. 

Altibox Carrier and Xtera will be responsible for building the fibre cable system that will run between Stavanger in Norway and Newcastle in the UK.

The connection aims to provide a “new digital highway” to and from the Nordics, allowing Norway to act as a vital link between data centres in the US, the UK and Scandinavia. This can bring huge benefits for the country’s own data centre industry.

The NO-UK Com project is being backed by a group of Norwegian companies, including Lyse, Ryfylke IKS, BKK Digitek, Green Mountain, Haugaland Kraft, Jacob Hatteland Holding, and Polysys.

With the help of Invest in Bergen and GreenByte, the project was also able to secure vital funding from Vestland County Council.

A stronger network

BKK Digitek provides internet services to businesses in Greater Bergen, and was another early supporter of the new fibre cable.

The company recently laid another undersea cable from Stavanger to Bergen, with the aim of creating a more secure and robust fibre network in the Bergen region.

Erik Korvald, Managing Director at BKK Digitek, believes that the new UK connection will help to make Norway’s fibre network more resilient.

“Norway has been in a vulnerable position with regards to fibre and bandwidth, as most of our traffic is currently routed via Oslo and Sweden,” explains Korvald. When the UK-Norway cable is finished, it will provide an alternative route in and out of Norway.

This will reduce vulnerability, and make the country more attractive to foreign companies who wish to do business here.

Erik Korvald, Managing Director at BKK Digitek, believes that the UK-Norway cable will make the Norwegian fibre network more resilient.

Korvald adds: “For BKK, it has been important to strengthen Norway’s digital infrastructure, so that we are even better placed to build data centres and use the country’s abundant supply of green energy.”

Abundant supply of hydropower

Now that the consortium has finished its survey of the seabed, work can begin on laying the undersea fibre cable itself. The project partners hope to finish this by the autumn of 2021.

When it is completed, they believe that the new connection will add to Norway’s benefits for data centre operators.

The country can already offer an abundance of clean hydropower, meaning that data centres here can gain access to electricity that is 100% sustainable.

With its many rivers and waterfalls, the west coast of Norway produces large quantities of renewable hydropower. This makes the region an excellent place for establishing new data centres.

Better still, a recent study has shown that Norway has enjoyed the lowest average power prices of Europe for nearly two decades.

The country can also offer a strong network, good data connectivity, and a stable political system where it is easy to do business.

Learn more about available data centre sites in the Greater Bergen region at the GreenByte website.