The 92km cable will run between Lerkil, south of Gothenburg, and Saeby in northern Denmark. From there, it will connect into terrestrial fibre networks across Denmark and Sweden, extending onwards to Finland and continental Europe. The result will be a 2,600km digital corridor stretching from Helsinki to Hamburg.
“Several sea cables already connect Sweden and Denmark, but most are over 20 years old and close to run out of capacity,” says Pär Jansson, SVP, GlobalConnect Carrier.
“As data traffic between the Nordics and continental Europe continues to grow, more cables are needed to create redundancy, strengthen security and support the region’s long-term growth.”
The new route is designed to add an independent path for traffic, reducing the risk of disruption if existing systems are damaged or congested. GlobalConnect says the cable’s capacity is sufficient to transport all data currently being produced in the Nordics. It will contain 288 fibre strands.
The Kattegat project represents an investment of €11.9 million, with €5.9 million supported by the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF2). It forms part of GlobalConnect’s multi-year “Bifrost” programme, which will see more than 3,000km of new digital highways built across the Nordics in the coming years.
The Sweden–Denmark route is the third major subsea initiative under the programme, alongside new builds between Sweden–Finland and Gotland–Estonia. In total, around 442km of new subsea cable is currently under construction across the region.
Marine surveys are scheduled for 2026 to determine the optimal cable path, avoid seabed disturbance and identify potential obstacles such as rocks, currents or archaeological findings. Land-based works will include upgrading existing ducts with higher-capacity fibre and constructing two new inline amplifier (ILA) stations to strengthen the signal.
Cable laying will begin in 2026, with vessels expected to deploy around 500 metres of cable per hour along the prepared seabed route. The system is scheduled to go live by the end of 2027.
Once operational, the link will provide additional redundancy and higher capacity for Nordic data flows, reinforcing the region’s role as a secure and well-connected digital hub.
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