Espoo, Finland

Position in regional infrastructure

Espoo sits on the north shore of the Gulf of Finland at coordinates 60.206780°N, 24.655780°E, immediately west of the Finnish capital Helsinki and forming part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area's 1.6-million population conurbation. As Finland's second-most-populated municipality (~326,000 inhabitants), Espoo is also the country's principal data centre cluster — Microsoft, Google and Yandex all operate or have announced major facilities in or adjacent to the city. For submarine cable infrastructure, Espoo serves as a Gulf of Finland landing point with both an existing cable to Estonia and a planned extension into Sweden.

The two cables landing here both target the Baltic Sea cable mesh: E-FINEST already connects to Tallinn in Estonia (a 50 km Gulf of Finland crossing), and the planned Eastern Light Sweden-Finland II will extend Espoo's connectivity westward into Swedish backbones. Together they position Espoo as a Finland-side anchor for the Baltic submarine cable cluster, complementing the older landing at Hanko on Finland's southern coast.

Submarine cables landing in Espoo

E-FINEST is a submarine cable in service since 2019, owned by Elisa Corporation (Finland's incumbent operator). It crosses the Gulf of Finland to land at Tallinn in Estonia, providing a short direct fibre connection between the two capitals. E-FINEST was one of several Finland-Estonia submarine cables deployed in the late 2010s to add capacity for cross-Gulf data flows, including hyperscaler intra-region replication traffic between Finnish and Estonian data centre clusters. Cable length and exact RFS month are not catalogued in the GeoCables dataset.

Eastern Light Sweden-Finland II is a planned submarine cable scheduled for ready-for-service in 2027, owned by Eastern Light. From Espoo it will connect to Hanko in Finland, Mariehamn in the Aland Islands (kkar), and Kista in Sweden — extending Espoo into the Stockholm metropolitan and Swedish backbone region. Length is not yet catalogued. The cable's name suggests it is the second Eastern Light Sweden-Finland system, building on prior infrastructure between the two countries.

Connection topology and redundancy

Espoo currently operates as a single-international-cable landing (E-FINEST to Estonia), with the Eastern Light Sweden-Finland II addition pending until 2027. Until then, Espoo's submarine connectivity is non-redundant at this specific landing — a fault on E-FINEST leaves Espoo without direct submarine cable connectivity (alternative Finnish cable routing reaches Estonia and Sweden via Hanko, Helsinki, and other Gulf of Finland landings).

Once Eastern Light Sweden-Finland II enters service in 2027, Espoo will have two-direction redundancy: south to Estonia via E-FINEST and west to Sweden via the new system. The two operators (Elisa, Eastern Light) and two destination countries (Estonia, Sweden) provide both operator and geographic diversity. This makes the 2027 deployment a structurally significant upgrade for Espoo's role in the Baltic data centre interconnect mesh.

Geography and coordinates

The Espoo submarine cable landing sits at 60.206780°N, 24.655780°E (60°12'24"N, 24°39'21"E) on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, within the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. The Gulf of Finland here is a relatively shallow, semi-enclosed Baltic embayment — submarine cables across it use shorter shore-end sections than open-ocean landings but must navigate dense maritime traffic between Helsinki, Tallinn and St. Petersburg shipping lanes.

Frequently asked questions

What submarine cables land at Espoo, Finland?

Two submarine cables involve Espoo: E-FINEST (RFS 2019, to Tallinn Estonia, Elisa Corporation) and Eastern Light Sweden-Finland II (planned RFS 2027, to Hanko, Aland Islands and Kista Sweden, Eastern Light).

What are the coordinates of the Espoo cable landing?

The Espoo cable landing is at 60.206780°N, 24.655780°E (60°12'24"N, 24°39'21"E), on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland west of Helsinki.

Which countries connect to Finland through Espoo?

Through E-FINEST, Espoo connects to Estonia (Tallinn). The planned Eastern Light Sweden-Finland II will add a connection to Sweden (Kista) via the Aland Islands by 2027.

When was the first submarine cable laid at Espoo?

The earliest documented Espoo landing in the GeoCables dataset is E-FINEST, in service since 2019. The planned Eastern Light Sweden-Finland II is scheduled for 2027.

Who operates the cables landing at Espoo?

E-FINEST is operated by Elisa Corporation, the Finnish incumbent. Eastern Light Sweden-Finland II will be operated by Eastern Light, a Swedish-Finnish infrastructure company.