A Swedish company is laying a new fiber-optic communications cable connecting Sweden, Estonia and Finland, which is expected to enter service next year.
Seabed surveys are about to begin near Saaremaa ahead of construction of a new communications cable connecting Sweden, Estonia and Finland.
The cable will run along the seabed from Gotland in Sweden to Saaremaa, then on to Hiiumaa and mainland Estonia, before continuing through Harju County and across the seabed to Helsinki, Finland. The overland section in Estonia will run from Haapsalu to Viimsi.
"In Estonia, the project includes both submarine and terrestrial fiber-optic communications cables," Tõnu Nirk, head of the communications markets division at the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs, told ERR. The overland cable route in Estonia is expected to total 250 kilometers, while the subsea connections to Finland, Sweden and Estonia's two largest islands will add another 300 kilometers.
Seabed surveys are planned in preparation for the new communications link. The surveys will identify a suitable route for the cable and map other factors that need to be considered during planning, Nirk said. According to Nirk, the findings will be used in the design process and to prepare a preliminary assessment of whether an environmental impact assessment is necessary.
Cable to be built and owned by Swedish company
The project developer and future owner of the infrastructure is GlobalConnect AB, a telecommunications company registered in Sweden. The company is also responsible for organizing the surveys needed to prepare for the project.
Estonia's Ministry of Climate has issued GlobalConnect AB the necessary marine survey permits, which are valid until the end of this year. Applications for the right to use the seabed and for construction permits for the submarine communications cable are being processed by the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (TTJA).
Preparations for the project began in 2025. Cable installation is scheduled for this year and next, with the connection expected to enter service in 2027.
There are currently two communications links between Estonia and Sweden and six between Estonia and Finland. However, various undersea cables and pipelines have been damaged by ships on several occasions in recent years, making a new, alternative connection necessary, Nirk said.
"For Estonia, it is important to establish an additional route that is physically separate from existing connections and to ensure that international data communications can continue even if cables are damaged," he said.
Demand for data transmission capacity is also constantly growing and the new Sweden-Estonia-Finland communications link will increase the capacity of data networks in the Baltic Sea region, Nirk noted.
The ministry declined to comment on whether the project would also include backup connections that could be used if the main connection were disrupted.
Construction of the Sweden-Estonia-Finland communications cable will cost approximately €40 million, of which €15.7 million will come from the European Union's Connecting Europe Facility Digital program.
"The Estonian government is not contributing financially to the project, but it has supported efforts to secure European Union funding and is facilitating the international and domestic cooperation needed to implement it. The project is important for Estonia because it diversifies our international communications links and those of our neighbors, while strengthening digital resilience," Nirk said.
Over the past year, Russia-linked vessels have damaged a gas pipeline and an electricity connection between Estonia and Finland, as well as several international communications cables in the Baltic Sea.
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