Sweden intends to actively participate in laying fiber optic cables from the city of Kiruna under the Arctic ice to North America. The Polar Connect project is a priority for the EU and will cost over 21 billion kronor (2.35 billion USD), the SVT television channel reported.
The connection points will be Sweden, Norway, Canada, Alaska, Japan and South Korea; The 10,500 km system is expected to be operational by 2030. The cables will run overland from Kiruna to the coast of Norway, then under water via Svalbard to Asia and North America.
The government of the kingdom has already decided to deploy an icebreaker to lay, monitor and maintain sections of the cable system. Sweden has allocated 118 million kronor (US$13.22 million) for this purpose. The project is being implemented by the Swedish Research Council, the Secretariat for Polar Research, the network of scientific and educational organizations Nordunet, and the digital infrastructure company Global Connect.