Europe to Asia via new polar cable

The European Union is considering a project to build an undersea cable to connect Europe to Asia via the Arctic, aiming to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and Russia by 2030.

The proposed project, called Polar Connect, would start in Scandinavia and cut directly through the North Pole.

According to reports, the EU started looking into this option after recent turmoil in the Middle East, where 90% of the Europe-Asia internet traffic currently transits.

This region has seen multiple incidents of cut cables, resulting in disruptions to internet services.

In 2024, a Houthi missile struck a ship transiting the Red Sea, causing it to drift aimlessly and cut three undersea cables.

The attack led to a four-month delay in repairs due to negotiations over access to the area.

A similar incident occurred in September 2025, when a commercial vessel is suspected of having dragged its anchor across four cables, again requiring months of negotiations for repairs.

Events like these have led the EU to seek alternative routes to Asia, with the current options being to go through the United States or Russia.

However, going through the polar region would be the only route that wouldn’t go through territory controlled by other governments.

Polar Connect faces significant challenges, including ice and icebergs that could scrape the seabed where the cables lie.

Additionally, there are no icebreaking cable-laying ships, so any operation would need at least two vessels or a new cable-laying icebreaker.

Maintenance is also a concern, with expensive repair costs due to the Arctic conditions and consequent lengthy downtimes.

Quintillion, which took over the assets of Arctic Fibre in 2016, had previously planned to connect Europe to Asia via Alaska.

Although it successfully connected Nome to Prudhoe Bay, the project stalled after the undersea cable broke on two occasions due to sea ice.

The first incident occurred in June 2023, and the company had to wait for the ice to melt before conducting repairs.

The other incident happened in January 2025, and Arctic Fibre had to wait eight months before accessing the area of the break and reconnecting the cable.

Polar Connect aims to have the cable operational by 2030, but working in the challenging conditions of the Arctic will likely impact this schedule.

The EU is not the only region looking for alternatives to the Middle East bottleneck when it comes to undersea cables.

Meta announced Project Waterworth in early 2025, which aims to bypass major chokepoints like the Middle East and the Strait of Malacca.

Similar to Polar Connect, this project aims to create an “information superhighway” that won’t be affected by geopolitical hotspots across the world.

The European Union’s consideration of Polar Connect is driven by current global geopolitics, which are pushing Europe to invest in alternatives that aren’t subject to the whims of unstable leaders.

On a typical day, the planning room for Polar Connect is located in room 304 of a nondescript office building in Brussels.

Meetings often start at 9:00 AM and can last for hours, discussing the intricacies of the project.

Despite the challenges, the EU remains committed to finding a solution to the growing need for a more stable and secure connection between Europe and Asia.