The upgrade introduces new geographically diverse routes connecting key cities including Luleå, Narvik, Sundsvall, Trondheim and Helsinki, while enhancing existing long-haul corridors to support significantly higher data volumes.
The expansion forms part of the company’s wider Bifrost infrastructure programme, which includes upgrades to terrestrial networks and new subsea cable builds in the Baltic Sea and Kattegat.
Demand for high-capacity connectivity in the Northern Nordics is rising rapidly, driven by growth in data centres, green energy projects and electrified heavy industry. GlobalConnect said the investment responds to increasing requirements for resilient international links as digitalisation accelerates across the region.
“Digital infrastructure in the region is now being brought in line with the rapidly growing demand seen across the Nordics,” said Pär Jansson, SVP, GlobalConnect Carrier.
Northern Norway is now strengthened as a resilient and strategic hub for international data traffic, including potential future Arctic subsea cable systems such as Polar Connect, while also strengthening connectivity southbound to major Nordic cities and onward to Europe’s main digital centres.”
The new routes also improve network resilience by enabling traffic to be rerouted in the event of outages or maintenance, reducing the risk of disruption for businesses and public services in remote areas.
“This expansion is about scaling capacity and reliability in the network to support long-term industrial and digital development in the region for decades to come,” Jansson added.
The rollout was delivered in four phases between Q2 and Q4 2025, including upgrades between Stockholm and Luleå and new cross-border links spanning Sweden, Norway and Finland.
The project has been supported by EU funding through the Connecting Europe Facility, reflecting the strategic importance of robust digital infrastructure in northern Europe.
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