FEATURE
CONNECTING THE EUROPEAN SINGLE MARKET
Regional Systems in Europe Providing Cross-Connectivity And Redundancy to Meet the New Needs of Data Retention in the World of GDPR BY JUKKA-PEKKA JOENSUU BACKGROUND
Finland has a unique position in the European Union with a central position in the Baltic Sea and also geographically connecting northeastern Europe with Eurasia and Asia. This has been very true in relation to telecommunications and data networks. Traditionally due to close relations in business and building of business links Finland has been connected to Sweden through various networks. This has been the way for the Finnish companies establishing pan- Nordic business and also creating data connectivity towards central Europe. In the late 90´s due to rapid increase of telecommunications traffic this also became a highway connecting east to west and today most of the internet and telecommunications traffic is carried through Finland and Sweden towards main European internet hubs and serving the demands of the capacity needs of Russian, Asian and international carriers and businesses. Also, connectivity to the Baltic states and routes through Baltic Sea countries were created in early 2000. Building regional cables within Europe can have a real breakthrough connecting different economic areas and meetings targets set earlier with Connect Europe Facility and building Single Digital Market in Europe. In 2010 Ministry of Traffic and Communications in Finland started to look for the ways to create a new connectivity between Finland and Germany and increasing the demand for new era of telecommunications data traffic.
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SUBMARINE TELECOMS MAGAZINE
The emergence of OTT´s like Google and Facebook building their data centers has led to positive investment cycle in which today Facebook is making giant investments in Luleå site in Sweden and building new data center in Denmark. Also, Google has a big data center in Hamina, Finland and increasing investments in Sweden and northern Europe. In 2013 a feasibility study was conducted, and the results of this study made by Pricewaterhouse Coopers Oy (PWC) and a wide consultation process paved a room tor the new investment to build a subsea cable from Finland to Central Europe. The Finnish Government and Prime Minister´s Office made an important decision in late 2013 to purchase Corenet, a special purpose company owned by TDC and Finnish Railways running backbone railway telecommunications networks. This investment was a cornerstone for making the sea cable project, called Sea Lion, one of the highest governmental initiatives. Corenet was able to provide the backhaul needed in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The whole project including the transformation was expected to have a budget of 100 M€ with the sea cable between 60-80 M€.
PUBLIC- PRIVATE CONSORTIUMS LEADING THE WAY TO NEW EUROPEAN DIGITAL HIGHWAY
As European economy is undergoing a major transformation and at the same time facing very rapid digitalization there is need for new kind of thinking. Also, GDPR and new regulation entails building the cloud within European market area.