Midgard Infra Expanded Nordic Subsea Cable Capacity
The firm has accelerated its infrastructure rollout to support surging AI and hyperscale data center traffic.
Updated on Oct. 6, 2026 in Data Centers
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Midgard Infra, formerly Altibox Carrier, has begun marine surveys for its Verena subsea cable system. This expansion project aims to connect Scarborough to Esbjerg with 512Tbps of capacity by the fourth quarter of 2028.
Why it matters
The company is executing a buy-and-build strategy to consolidate Nordic connectivity, explicitly targeting the bandwidth requirements of rising AI workloads. Its network leverages the extensive 30,000km domestic footprint of its joint-venture partner, Lyse.
The upcoming Verena cable will span 630km and deliver a 512Tbps total capacity. This significantly exceeds the 216Tbps throughput of the operational NO-UK cable, which currently supports 1.6Tbps line rates per wavelength.
The players
Midgard Infra
A Nordic connectivity provider operated as a 50/50 joint venture between Lyse and HitecVision.
Lyse
A Norwegian utility and telecommunications operator maintaining a 30,000km terrestrial network.
Chris Kelly
The newly appointed Vice President for neoclouds tasked with overseeing infrastructure growth.
The details
Midgard Infra connects regional connectivity hubs using subsea fibre routes, which utilize long-haul optical transmission to link data centers across international borders. The Skagenfiber West system, for example, achieves a 1.7ms round-trip delay across its 170km span using 48 fibre pairs. The firm is now integrating these maritime assets with a 30,000km terrestrial network to provide unified reach across the Nordic region.
Timeline
- 2026-10-06
Midgard Infra appointed Chris Kelly as VP for neoclouds.
Q4 2028: The Verena subsea cable system is scheduled to be ready.
The Tech Race
Midgard Infra is scaling its throughput to keep pace with the massive traffic demands of hyperscale AI deployments. The Verena project follows the performance benchmarks established by the NO-UK system, moving the competitive target from 216Tbps to 512Tbps.
This infrastructure buildup provides the necessary backbone for low-latency AI processing across the UK, Scandinavia, and Germany. Enterprise customers can expect increased network reliability and throughput for cross-border data transfers once the Verena system enters service.
The takeaway
Midgard Infra is aggressively expanding its maritime and terrestrial footprint to capture the growing Nordic data center market. Observers should track the Q4 2028 completion milestone for the Verena cable to see if the project meets its 512Tbps capacity target.
What happens next
The Verena subsea cable system is planned for completion by the fourth quarter of 2028.
Further reading
Explore more on infrastructure scaling in the Data Centers section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Capacity.
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