The work on the Arctic Connect project to lay a high-speed communication line from Helsinki to Tokyo with a length of almost 14 thousand kilometers under the Arctic Ocean began in early August. The developers of the transpolar digital backbone promise that the communication speed of those who connect to the northern cable will be several times faster than that of other communication lines.
Finnish and Russian specialists from Cinia Oy and MegaFon are working on the project together with Rosgeologia. At the first stage, the Rosgeologia’s research ship Professor Logachev left Murmansk for Vladivostok, which has to cover 6.5 thousand kilometers for three months and work out the optimal route for laying the cable.
The next stage of exploration work will take place in 2021 and will include a detailed study of the engineering conditions for laying the underwater cable, including the study of the bottom rocks. Then it is planned to select a contractor to perform the work. Arctic Connect is scheduled to be launched in 2023.
The project developers are already announcing at least 11 auxiliary branches to the mainland along the entire length of the highway between Murmansk and Anadyr, which are needed in order to provide the channel with electricity, and the northern regions with high-speed communications. It is noteworthy that the taps will lead to Norilsk and Khatanga.
The laying of the transarctic cable will be of significant importance both for the local population and for the companies of the Taimyr fuel and energy complex.
As a reminder, Norilsk received broadband Internet access in September 2017. A fiber-optic communication line was pulled to Taimyr from Novy Urengoy.
After it became clear that not a single Russian structure, including the big three federal telecom operators, plans to invest in the laying of optical fiber, Nornickel took over the financing of the large-scale project. The laying of the fiber-optic lines costs the company 2.5 billion rubles. The 956-kilometer route passes through the territory of the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous okrug and the Krasnoyarsk region.
