Greenland Connect

Overview

Greenland Connect is a submarine cable system spanning 4,580 km across the North Atlantic, linking Canada, Greenland, and Iceland. The cable serves a high-latitude corridor that connects Greenland's coastal communities to both the North American and European network ecosystems, with landings distributed across three countries.

Route and Landings

In Canada, the cable lands at Milton, Newfoundland and Labrador, providing the system's North American connection point.

In Greenland, the cable lands at two points: Nuuk, the island's capital on the southwest coast, and Qaqortoq, located further south. These two landings give the cable a meaningful presence along Greenland's western coastline.

In Iceland, the cable comes ashore at Landeyjar, on the country's southern coast.

Ownership and Operators

Greenland Connect is owned solely by Tusass A/S. Tusass is Greenland's national telecommunications provider, and as the sole owner, the company bears full operational responsibility for the system.

Status and Timeline

The cable entered service in 2009 and has been in continuous operation for approximately 17 years. It represents the earliest submarine cable to serve Greenland, with the country's two currently active systems both dating from 2009 onward.

Technical Profile

At 4,580 km, Greenland Connect is longer than 86% of the other submarine cables touching the same countries, reflecting the considerable distances involved in bridging Canada, Greenland, and Iceland across the North Atlantic.

Regional Context

The Canada–Greenland–Iceland corridor is served by a relatively small number of systems. Iceland is currently reached by two submarine cables, with Greenland similarly served by two systems. Canada, by contrast, has 18 cables landing at 44 points across the country, making the Milton landing a connection into a well-developed North American network environment.

Among the regional peers active in this broader corridor, Greenland Connect sits between shorter systems such as EXA Express (4,600 km, RFS 2015) and considerably longer legacy systems. It predates EXA Express by six years and remains the longest cable directly serving Greenland's western landing points. Measured round-trip latency over the past 60 days averages 143.8 ms, with a best recorded value of 142.9 ms across 31 ping tests.

Strategic Role

Greenland Connect provides Greenland's two southwestern communities — Nuuk and Qaqortoq — with direct submarine cable connectivity to both Canada and Iceland. For a territory with limited cable infrastructure, the system's three-country span offers access to onward routes in both the transatlantic and North American directions. Sole ownership by Tusass A/S means operational decisions and capacity planning for this corridor rest entirely with Greenland's national operator.