Finland’s government has put €20m (US$27m) into an undersea cable to link the country with Germany and end its reliance on accessing the internet through Sweden.
Finnish communications minister Krista Kiuru said the connection will lure private…
Finland’s government has put €20m (US$27m) into an undersea cable to link the country with Germany and end its reliance on accessing the internet through Sweden.
Finnish communications minister Krista Kiuru said the connection will lure private investments, turning her country into a “genuine promised land for companies producing cloud services”.
The cable is thought to cost around €100m (US$137m) in total and the government’s Ownership Steering Unit, which is overseeing its implementation, is calling on private companies to join the project.
“Our geopolitical location is based both on geography and on decisions that we make ourselves,” said Kiuru.
“We ourselves must first have the courage to develop Finland into a significant safe harbour of information, where companies and countries can safely place their critical data.”
Kalevi Alestalo, senior financial counsellor at the Ownership Steering Unit, said it will be a public-private project with the government remaining as a minority shareholder of about 30% once it is completed in 2016.
He added that the group is in the process of identifying possible investors, with the European Investment Bank set to be one of the parties it talks to.
Finland reportedly rejected an attempt last year by Swedish telecoms incumbent TeliaSonera to build a fibre network from St Petersburg to Germany, which would have passed through the country, shortly after its own cable plan was announced.
Last year reports in Sweden claimed the country played a key role in helping the US spy on Russia.
Swedish TV cited leaked documents from the US National Security Agency (NSA) for the claim, amid international criticism over its global spying programme.
