VodafoneThree has announced a feasibility study into a new high-speed subsea cable linking mainland Scotland with Shetland and onward to Norway, in a project the company says could deliver up to £8.2 billion in additional UK economic output over ten years.

A new UK-Norway digital corridor

The study, announced on 10 November 2026 and due to begin in summer 2027, will examine possible routes from Shetland to Norway, landing points and delivery partners in the Bergen region. The proposed cable could carry up to 420 terabits per second, according to VodafoneThree.

The research behind the £8.2 billion figure was carried out by consultancy WPI Strategy and commissioned by Vodafone Business. VodafoneThree says the corridor would strengthen the security, resilience and capacity of the UK's digital infrastructure, supporting defence, critical national infrastructure, businesses, public services and data centres.

Resilience for Shetland

The announcement builds on a completed feasibility study into a cable between Shetland and the Scottish mainland. Shetland currently depends on a single cable system for much of its connectivity, and outages in 2022 and 2025 exposed the lack of an effective alternative when it fails.

If built, the link would be the first new direct subsea cable between Scotland and Norway in around a quarter of a century. Three cables already link the UK and Norway, according to figures from TeleGeography cited in reporting on the announcement, with one more planned.

The UK government has backed the proposal, according to Silicon, at a time of heightened concern about the security of critical undersea infrastructure. VodafoneThree said the study would also look at how greater international connectivity could support businesses, public services and data centres in Scotland and the wider UK.