MegaFon says board clears purchase of 50% in Arctic fibre line JV

MOSCOW, Dec 4 (PRIME) -- The board of directors of Russian mobile operator MegaFon has approved participation in firm Arctic Link Development by acquiring up to 50% of its voting shares, MegaFon said on Wednesday in a statement.

Arctic Link Development is a joint venture to be set up by MegaFon and Finnish infrastructure operator Cinia Oy for pre-project work until offshore prospecting to lay a fiber optic line between Europe and Asia on the bottom of the Arctic Ocean.

The partners will receive stakes proportionally to investment.

Under the project with a working name of Arctic Connect, a 13,800 kilometer fiber optic line with a throughput capacity of 200 Tbit per second will be laid. By the moment of its putting in operation in 2022–2023, it will be one of the most effective in the world.

The cable will stretch from Northern Europe to Japan with 11,000 kilometers running along Russia’s coastline under the Northern Sea Route.

Arctic Connect will repeat the route of the single transport communications of Russia in the Arctic and will create the shortest possible way to transfer data from Europe to Asia. MegaFon estimated the initiative at U.S. $800 million–1.2 billion, while the precise amount will be clear after research has been done.

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