A subsea fibre-optic cable network connecting Greenland to Iceland and Canada cut Nuuk's internet latency by ~500ms overnight in 2009 and was extended in 2017 to reach four more west-coast towns, replacing costly satellite links with broadband for most of Greenland's population.
~90 EUR million
Project cost
~500 ms
Latency reduction at Nuuk (2009)
1.92 to 12.8 Tbps
Lit capacity upgrade
Details
Maturity
Established
Promoter
TELE Greenland A/S (Tusass)
Period
2009–present (extended 2017)
Keywords
telecommunications, submarine cable, rural connectivity, digital infrastructure
Context
Until 2009 Greenland depended entirely on costly, high-latency satellite links; Tele Greenland A/S (now Tusass) laid the Greenland Connect submarine fibre-optic cable, financed partly by a EUR 20 million Nordic Investment Bank loan, for a total project cost of roughly EUR 90 million.
Results
The cable went live on 23 March 2009, cutting Nuuk's latency by around 500ms; lit capacity has since been upgraded from 1.92 Tbps to 12.8 Tbps, and a 2017 extension (Greenland Connect North) brought fibre-grade broadband to four more west-coast towns.
Conclusions
Many smaller east-coast and northern settlements (e.g. Tasiilaq, Ittoqqortoormiit, Qaanaaq) still depend on satellite connectivity, a gap Tusass has since begun addressing through a separate 2025 low-earth-orbit satellite partnership.
Implementation
Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.
Data sources
Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.
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