GlobalConnect, a Nordic digital infrastructure and data communication provider, has finished expanding its optical wavelength network across northern Scandinavia. The project adds capacity in northern Sweden, Norway and Finland and creates new routes between Luleå, Narvik, Sundsvall, Trondheim and Helsinki. The changes also add more route diversity between northern Scandinavia and central Europe.
According to a GlobalConnect press release, the expansion also improves the position of northern Norway as a route for international data traffic.
“Digital infrastructure in the region is now being brought in line with the rapidly growing demand seen across the Nordics. 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 centers,” says Pär Jansson, SVP, GlobalConnect Carrier.
The company has built several new cross-border connections and upgraded existing long-distance routes so they can carry more traffic. The work is part of GlobalConnect’s Bifrost infrastructure program, which includes upgrades to existing land-based cable networks and the construction of three new subsea cables in the Baltic Sea and Kattegat.
Demand for network capacity in the far north has increased as industries such as data centers, renewable energy and electrified heavy industry continue to expand. Companies and public authorities in the region need more reliable international connections as data use grows and more services move online.
The additional routes are intended to make the network more resilient. If one cable is damaged or taken offline for maintenance, traffic can be redirected through another route. This is particularly important in northern parts of the Nordic region, where long distances and limited infrastructure can make outages more disruptive.
GlobalConnect completed the work in four stages. The connection between Stockholm and Luleå was upgraded in the second quarter of 2025. A new route between Luleå, Narvik and Alta was completed in the fourth quarter of 2025. New routes between Sundsvall and Trondheim, and between Luleå and Helsinki, were also completed in the fourth quarter of 2025.
GlobalConnect says the overall project increases international data capacity and improves network resilience across northern Sweden, Norway and Finland.
The expansion was carried out through the Nordic Wave project, which is co-funded by the European Union under the Connecting Europe Facility programme and by Norwegian authorities. Public funding was used because large cross-border infrastructure projects in sparsely populated areas often take many years to recover their costs.