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The deal is expected to boost the lifespan of the company’s aging submarine cables around Svalbard
Space Norway has announced a new deal with Ciena to modernise the Svalbard Undersea Cable System and its upcoming Arctic Way cable system with the latest optical technolgy.
The deal will see Space Norway’s existing infrastructure upgraded with Ciena’s latest optical technology, including the Ciena 6500 Optical Platform, WaveLogic 6 Extreme, Spectrum Sharing, and the Navigator Network Control Suite.
The same technology will also be used in the upcoming Arctic Way Cable System.
This, the company said, will ‘expand the operational lifespan’ of the Svalbard Undersea Cable System and expanding secure, high-resilience connectivity across the Acrtic region.
“Reliable connectivity is essential in the Arctic, where our infrastructure supports critical activities and demanding operational requirements,” said Pia Birgitte Bruhn, acting Vice President of Cable Systems at Space Norway. “By working with Ciena, we are extending the operational life of our existing Svalbard cable systems while preparing Arctic Way for service. This investment will strengthen the resilience and capacity of our subsea network and support the region’s long-term connectivity needs.”
Space Norway is a satellite company owned by the Norwegian state that operates hybrid infrastructure, comprising satellites, teleports, fibre networks, and subsea cables. The company provides mission-critical communications relied upon by research, scientific, and national security organisations.
The company operates the Svalbard Undersea Cable System, which began service in 2004 and spans roughly 2,714 km from Breivika in northern Norway to Longyearbyen, Svalbard’s largest town.
Currently, Svalbard only has one other submarine cable: the Longyearbyen–Ny-Ålesund route on the west of the archipelago operated by Sikt, the Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research.
However, this will change in the coming years through the deployment of Space Norway’s upcoming Arctic Way system. Announced in 2025, will connect Bodø, Norway, to Longyearbyen, with separate branch to the remote island of Jan Mayen, home to Beerenberg, the most northern active volcano in the world.
While Svalbard and Jan Mayen have few or no permanent residents, they remain of high strategic importance for Norway. Svalbard, for example, notably hosts SvalSat, a crucial satellite ground station that monitors the Arctic region for which reliable backhaul is crucial.
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