Eastern Arctic Undersea Fiber Optic Network Project Win
Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), part of Nokia, will build the Eastern Arctic Undersea Fiber Optic Network, a 1,200 km submarine fiber system that brings high-speed broadband to remote communities in northern Québec. The project strengthens ASN’s role in Arctic digital infrastructure.
Eastern Arctic Undersea Fiber Optic Network scope and goals
The Kativik Regional Government (KRG) is funding the Eastern Arctic Undersea Fiber Optic Network to connect five northern Québec communities that currently depend mainly on satellite links. The goal is to provide reliable, affordable, and secure high-speed Internet so residents, businesses, and public services gain better access to modern digital tools.
The system uses two fiber pairs, and each fiber pair will provide at least 10 Tbps of capacity. In addition, the design allows future extensions, enabling KRG to link more communities in northern Canada as demand for bandwidth grows.
Technology and system design
ASN plans to integrate its latest subsea optical technologies into the network. The design includes high-bandwidth repeaters to maintain signal quality over long distances, OADM branching units for flexible routing, SoftNode Submarine Line Terminal Equipment (SLTE), and modular, duplicated Power Feed Equipment (PFE) that improves resilience and service continuity.
Together, these technologies boost capacity, enhance reliability, and simplify future upgrades along the Arctic subsea route. They also support long-term scalability as regional traffic increases.
Arctic deployment experience and execution
Alain Biston, President of ASN, notes that KRG chose ASN partly for its successful track record with advanced coherent submarine cable systems in remote and harsh Arctic environments. He explains that this experience will help ASN handle the technical and environmental challenges of the project.
ASN will manufacture the submarine fiber cable system at its facilities in France and the U.K., then deploy it using a purpose-built subsea cable ship. The team must adapt to severe weather and comply with strict regulatory, logistical, scheduling, and operational constraints for marine work in Hudson Bay, drawing on lessons from four earlier Arctic projects.
Regional impact and ASN’s global footprint
Project partners plan to commission the Eastern Arctic Undersea Fiber Optic Network by the end of 2021. The Kativik Regional Government covers most of Nunavik, which forms the northern half of the Nord‑du‑Québec region and includes all territory above the 55th parallel, an area of about 500,164 square kilometers. The new network will play a critical role in linking this vast region to global digital infrastructure.
Alcatel Submarine Networks notes that it has installed more than 650,000 km of optical submarine systems worldwide—enough to circumnavigate the globe about 15 times—highlighting its position as a leading global subsea connectivity provider.
