Seydisfjordur, Iceland: no other cable lands within 50 km.
On an island this means losing the submarine link; on the mainland traffic can still go over land.
No alerts from our monitoring on this cable in the last 180 days. Events feed →
Counted: other international cables landing in the same country (domestic cables between points of one country are not a way out), other cables at landing points within 50 km, and whether the country has land links. Not counted: cable capacity, operator contracts and satellite. Use as a first look at dependence, not as a statement of what would happen.
Live Performance
152
measurements
3
probes
227
days monitored
57.9
ms avg RTT
0
anomalies
Monitored from 2026-03-06 through 2026-10-19 - live ICMP round-trip time measurements via our monitoring probes. All values below are recomputed daily from raw probe data. ✓ No anomalies detected in the monitored period.
Measurement sources
Probe
Location
Samples
Avg
Min-Max
Last seen
#51432
control probe
143
58.7 ms
50.8-68.2
2026-10-19
#2923
control probe
6
44.2 ms
39.1-69.7
2026-04-14
#1016163
control probe
3
45.6 ms
45.4-45.8
2026-09-19
About the FARICE-1 Cable System
FARICE-1: A Submarine Cable Connecting Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and the United Kingdom
FARICE-1 is a submarine telecommunications cable spanning 1205 kilometers, linking Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and the United Kingdom. Owned and operated by Farice, the cable has been in service since 2004 according to GeoCables database records. It serves as a critical link for data transmission between these regions, enabling connectivity for both residential and commercial users.
What makes FARICE-1 particularly noteworthy is the limited public information available about its technical specifications, such as design capacity, fiber pair count, and supplier details. This lack of transparency raises questions about the cable's technological capabilities and operational design, leaving room for speculation but no definitive answers without operator documentation.
Quick facts
Name
FARICE-1
Length
1205 km
Ready for Service
2004 (GeoCables database value; conflicting sources not surfaced)
FARICE-1 connects three landing points: Dunnet Bay in the United Kingdom, Funningsfjordur in the Faroe Islands, and Seydisfjordur in Iceland. Dunnet Bay, located in northern Scotland, provides a strategic connection point to mainland Europe. Funningsfjordur, situated in the Faroe Islands, serves as an intermediary landing station, while Seydisfjordur on Iceland's eastern coast links the cable to its northernmost destination. These landing points reflect the cable's role in bridging the North Atlantic region.
Why it was built and what it carries
FARICE-1 was constructed to enhance connectivity between Iceland and mainland Europe via the United Kingdom, with the Faroe Islands serving as a midpoint. The cable supports data traffic for internet, cloud services, and other telecommunications needs, catering to the growing demand for bandwidth in these regions. Iceland, in particular, has positioned itself as a hub for data centers due to its renewable energy resources and cool climate, making FARICE-1 an essential component of its digital infrastructure.
History: what can be established
The GeoCables database lists FARICE-1 as ready for service in 2004, and no conflicting dates have been surfaced from other industry sources. Publicly available details about the cable's construction, commissioning, and upgrades remain scarce, leaving its historical timeline largely unverified beyond its initial operational year.
Capacity and technology
Information about FARICE-1's design capacity, fiber pair count, supplier, and technology is not publicly disclosed. Without operator documentation, attributing specific capabilities or configurations would be speculative. It is reasonable to assume that the cable has undergone upgrades since 2004, as is common in the industry, but no verifiable details are available to confirm this.
Latency: the physics
Theoretical latency calculations based on the cable's length of 1205 kilometers yield a one-way light propagation time of approximately 5.9 milliseconds, with a round-trip time (RTT) floor of 11.8 milliseconds over the wet segment. However, real-world latency measurements are higher due to additional factors such as land tails, terminal equipment, and routing.
Live measurements conducted via remote probes show significantly higher RTTs for the full internet path:
Dunnet Bay to Seydisfjordur: Minimum 50.8 ms, average 56.9 ms over 100 checks
Seydisfjordur to Dunnet Bay: Minimum 39.1 ms, average 44.2 ms over 6 checks
These figures reflect the cumulative delays introduced by terrestrial networks and internet routing, rather than the cable's intrinsic latency.
Redundancy: what happens if it breaks
If FARICE-1 were to experience a fault, redundancy would depend on alternative cables serving the region. For Iceland, the DANICE cable provides another connection to Europe via Denmark, while Greenland Connect offers links to North America. Repair logistics for submarine cables typically involve deploying specialized vessels to locate and fix faults, a process that can take days or weeks depending on the nature of the damage and weather conditions.
Bottom line
FARICE-1 spans 1205 km, connecting Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and the United Kingdom.
Operational since 2004, with no conflicting ready-for-service date reported.
Owned by Farice; technical specifications such as design capacity and fiber pairs remain undisclosed.
Theoretical RTT floor is 11.8 ms; real-world measurements show significantly higher latency due to network factors.
Redundancy for Iceland includes DANICE and Greenland Connect.