- The Verena system will feature 16 fibre pairs and is named after pioneering engineer Verena Holmes.
- Built to meet growing demand from hyperscalers and carriers, the cable aims for service readiness in Q4 2028.
What happened: Altibox has launched a new 630 km subsea cable linking the UK and Denmark
Altibox Carrier has launched a new subsea cable called Verena. It spans approximately 630 kilometres between Scarborough on England’s east coast and Esbjerg in Denmark. The project is scheduled to enter service in the fourth quarter of 2028.
Verena will have 16 fibre pairs. It will provide significant new capacity and increase route diversity for cloud operators, hyperscalers, carriers, and other digital infrastructure providers. The cable is named in honour of Verena Holmes, a British engineer and early pioneer in mechanical and electrical engineering.
The project is supported by Altibox Carrier’s acquisition of Woodstock Cable Ltd, a UK firm that helped develop the initial route. Altibox Carrier, owned by Lyse and HitecVision, has appointed JTD Associates, Pelagian, and Cecon Contracting to manage deployment. Xtera is supplying the undersea equipment.
Altibox Carrier already operates other subsea and terrestrial routes. These include the NO-UK cable between Norway and the UK and the Skagen Fiber West system linking Norway and Denmark. The company has a presence in major European hubs such as London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Brussels.
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Why it’s important
The Verena cable is a strategic response to increasing digital traffic between the Nordics and the UK. The system offers robust capacity and redundancy to meet rising demand from cloud services, AI workloads, and data centre expansion.
By acquiring Woodstock Cable Ltd, Altibox secures local UK expertise and strengthens cross-border connectivity. The choice of Xtera to supply the subsea equipment reflects a focus on proven technology.
Earlier in 2025, Altibox demonstrated the world’s first 1.6 Tb/s single-carrier wavelength transmission over a live subsea link, showing its ability to scale rapidly with growing bandwidth needs. Verena is more than additional capacity. It provides a resilient backbone for future cross-sea digital infrastructure.
