Larvik, Norway

Larvik, Norway: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Larvik is a municipality in Vestfold county, on the western shore of the Oslofjord in southern Norway. As a submarine cable landing point, Larvik connects Norway to neighboring Scandinavian nations via two undersea cable systems. These connections span both inter-Nordic and intra-Norwegian corridors, linking Norway southward to Denmark and establishing a domestic link between Norwegian and Swedish coastal networks.

The two cables landing at Larvik — Norfest and Skagenfiber West — position the municipality as a regionally oriented node within the broader Norwegian submarine cable landscape. Together they enable direct data transmission routes across the Skagerrak and along Scandinavian coastlines, supporting connectivity within the Nordic region.

Cables Landing at Larvik

Norfest is a submarine cable system stretching 749 km, with a ready-for-service (RFS) date of 2023. The cable connects landing points in Norway and Sweden, forming a bilateral link between the two countries. As a relatively recent addition to the Norwegian cable map, Norfest represents one of the newer intra-Scandinavian cable routes to enter service.

Skagenfiber West is a shorter system at 170 km, with an RFS year of 2020. It connects Norway to Denmark, crossing the Skagerrak strait to provide a direct subsea link between the two countries. At 170 km, Skagenfiber West is considerably shorter than the Norwegian national average cable length of 1,024 km, reflecting the relatively compact geography of the southern North Sea corridor it serves.

Regional Context

Within Norway's submarine cable infrastructure — which spans 18 cables across 43 landing points — Larvik hosts two cables, placing it in the top 88% of Norwegian landing points by cable count. Larger Norwegian hubs such as Kristiansand (7 cables), Stavanger (4 cables), Bergen (3 cables), and Bodø (3 cables) accommodate more systems, as do Longyearbyen and Kårstø, each with three and two cables respectively. Larvik sits alongside Kårstø as one of the smaller but still active landing points in the national network.

Network Role

Larvik functions as a dual-cable landing point oriented toward regional Scandinavian connectivity. Through Norfest it maintains a direct subsea link to Sweden, while Skagenfiber West extends its reach to Denmark. This combination means Larvik serves as a node in the intra-Nordic cable graph, supporting routes between three Scandinavian countries from a single southern Norwegian location.

While Larvik is not among Norway's largest cable hubs, its two cables address distinct bilateral corridors — one northward along the Scandinavian Peninsula toward Sweden, the other southward across the Skagerrak to Denmark. This dual orientation gives Larvik a defined place in the regional submarine cable topology, connecting southern Norway into a tighter mesh of Nordic subsea routes.