TeliaSonera boosts fiber network capacity in northern Sweden

TeliaSonera says it plans to lay down more than a thousand kilometers of new fiber-optic cable through the north of Sweden to boost capacity on its network connecting data centers in the region.

The new fiber cable for Skanova Backbone North will be part of TeliaSonera’s long-haul fiber-optic network and will be built by its subsidiary Skanova. When finished it will run across 1250 km of inland terrain through middle and northern Sweden, ending up in the city of Luleå.

Because of its cold climate and access to clean and stable energy, the region, which is located just south of the Arctic Circle, has become an increasingly popular site to build data centers with large server farms in need of cost-effective and sustainable cooling.

Skanova Backbone North will transport huge amounts of network data traffic on behalf of global Internet companies to and from the region’s local fiber and mobile networks, TeliaSonera predicts. It will complement existing fiber-optic cables along the coastline of northern Sweden and through Finland.

“We are now investing around EUR 40 million in our Swedish long-haul network, extending the backbone of internet infrastructure in Europe. The new fiber cable, more than a thousand kilometers long, will add vital capacity and improve redundancy for network traffic generated by the region’s data centers en route to the continent,” said Malin Frenning, executive vice president and head of TeliaSonera Sweden.

“We believe this investment is essential to our customers in the global online industry that trusts us to provide a reliable connection for its internet traffic to ensure the end user experience,” she added.

The investment is expected to benefit the flourishing ICT-industry in the northern region of Sweden and especially the city of Luleå, where several data centers are located. The cable will also enable further role out of local fiber and mobile networks along its route.

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