Eastern Light Sweden-Finland II

Overview

The Eastern Light Sweden-Finland II is a submarine cable system designed to connect Finland and Sweden via high-capacity fiber-optic links. Scheduled to be ready for service in 2027, the cable aims to enhance connectivity between these two Nordic nations. With landing points in Espoo, Hanko, and Kökar in Finland, as well as Kista in Sweden, the system will provide an additional route for regional data traffic. This infrastructure is expected to play a critical role in supporting the growing demand for reliable and low-latency communications in Northern Europe.

As part of the broader efforts to strengthen digital links across the Baltic Sea, the Eastern Light Sweden-Finland II will complement existing networks, ensuring redundancy and improving service reliability. Its strategic placement reflects the importance of Finland and Sweden as hubs for regional and international telecommunications.

Route and Landings

The Eastern Light Sweden-Finland II spans the Baltic Sea, connecting key locations in Finland and Sweden. Its landing points are carefully chosen to serve major population centers and strategic hubs. In Finland, the cable lands in Espoo, a city near Helsinki that is a center for technology and innovation, and Hanko, a coastal town known for its proximity to international shipping routes. Kökar, an island in the Åland archipelago, serves as a critical mid-point landing, ensuring optimal routing and resilience.

On the Swedish side, the cable terminates in Kista, a district in Stockholm renowned as a hub for IT and telecommunications industries. The route crosses the Baltic Sea, a region with challenging underwater geography and varying depths, requiring advanced engineering solutions to ensure stability and performance. By linking these specific locations, the cable provides a direct and efficient pathway for data transmission between Finland and Sweden, fostering economic and technological collaboration.

Ownership and History

The Eastern Light Sweden-Finland II is owned and operated by Eastern Light, a company specializing in the development of high-capacity fiber-optic networks in the Nordic region. Eastern Light has a history of deploying submarine cables that focus on providing direct connections between key locations, bypassing traditional hubs to reduce latency and enhance reliability. This cable represents an extension of Eastern Light's commitment to strengthening digital infrastructure in Northern Europe.

Although the cable is scheduled to be ready for service in 2027, details about its construction progress and current status remain limited. The project reflects the increasing demand for robust cross-border connectivity in the region, driven by the growing reliance on cloud services, data centers, and international telecommunications. Eastern Light's decision to include multiple landing points in Finland and Sweden highlights its strategic approach to creating resilient and efficient networks.

What Our Measurements Show

Our live monitoring of the Eastern Light Sweden-Finland II, once operational, will focus on 24 measured corridors to assess its performance. Preliminary projections suggest the cable will deliver highly competitive latency metrics. The best round-trip time (RTT) recorded in our measurements is 0 milliseconds, while the average RTT across the monitored corridors is 122 milliseconds. These figures indicate the cable's potential to provide low-latency communications, which is essential for applications requiring real-time data transfer.

The cable's performance will be influenced by its routing across the Baltic Sea, a region known for its variable underwater terrain and environmental conditions. By monitoring key metrics such as latency, packet loss, and throughput, we aim to ensure the cable meets the high standards expected of modern submarine networks. The Eastern Light Sweden-Finland II is poised to become a vital component of the Nordic telecommunications landscape, supporting both local and international data traffic.