Lessons learned from the GN5-IC1 project
Now entering its final phase, the GN5-IC1 project brings together several years of work to plan and implement a new intercontinental connectivity investment programme for GÉANT. Taking stock, the project team now reflects on the progress made in a new summary document outlining GÉANT’s strategic vision, analysis, and recommendations for the provision of resilient intercontinental connectivity in support of research and education between Europe and other world regions. The document draws on the project’s final deliverable – D2.2 Resilience in Intercontinental Research Networks White Paper – aiming to highlight the project’s key findings, along with additional reflections from the team.
The strategic role of subsea telecommunications cables
GÉANT’s re-definition of its intercontinental connectivity approach is driven by the evolving needs of global data-intensive research collaboration, by a shifting geopolitical landscape and changing market, and backed by clear usage and traffic data. Currently, around 25% of all traffic on the GÉANT network originates or has its destination outside Europe. This requires secure, high-capacity global links to enable scientific collaboration, data exchange, and innovation across borders. At the global scale, research traffic is carried almost exclusively by subsea telecommunication cable systems, making these assets as critical for R&E connectivity as they are to the wider Internet.
The criticality of subsea communication infrastructure is well recognised by the European Commission, which in February 2025 published the EU Action Plan on Cable Security, a comprehensive strategy created to protect critical submarine cable infrastructures. More recently, this has been addressed in the work of the Submarine Cable Infrastructure Expert Group in its report on Security and Resilience of EU Submarine Cable Infrastructures. This criticality is widely acknowledged, even beyond GÉANT and the EC, and is producing an increase of investments in the area, including the European Commission’s Global Gateway initiatives, several of which GÉANT is already involved in.
These investments create a genuine opportunity for the R&E networking community to participate from the outset, securing supply and shaping outcomes to maximise value for the research and education community. Driven by the EU’s digital sovereignty considerations, GÉANT’s approach combines technical expertise and established regional relationships with blended financing mechanisms, involving EU financial institutions such as the European Investment Bank (EIB) to mobilise European private sector investment. Examples of this approach – recently recognised as exemplary by the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) in the brief “Troubled Waters: Europe’s Subsea Telecommunications Network” – are initiatives such as BELLA, Medusa, and Blue-Raman.
A comprehensive landscape analysis
Several findings stand out from the wide-ranging intercontinental connectivity analysis undertaken by the project’s cross-functional team:
- Research and Education Networks increasingly prefer long-term ownership models such as IRUs for spectrum or fibre over short-term leases, prioritising security of supply and resilience.
- Subsea telecommunication cables investment is accelerating, driven by surging Hyperscaler demand, aging infrastructure, and growing geopolitical risks. Ownership and routing are also changing, with Hyperscalers dominating a growing share of new and planned systems. Related sovereignty concerns drive EU initiatives aimed at securing strategic routes and control over the supply chain.
- Horizon Europe and the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) – Global Europe are identified as the most suitable EU mechanisms to fund and support intercontinental connectivity projects for European R&E.
- Growth of R&E traffic between GÉANT and other world regions has averaged at 30% per year, and peak demand between Europe and major regions such as the US and Asia-Pacific is expected to reach terabit levels by 2033.
- Key risks include infrastructure availability and accessibility, regulatory complexity, long-term financial exposure, security, geopolitical instability. Mitigation requires strong governance, growing legal expertise, diversified routes, and sustained policymaker support – particularly as private cable ownership becomes more prevalent.
A strategic framework to guide GÉANT’s intercontinental connectivity investments
Through the GN5-IC1 project, three strategic pillars have been defined to guide GÉANT’s approach to intercontinental connectivity:
- Pillar 1: Serving the needs of the European R&E Community. Ensuring that investment meets the needs of GÉANT Member RENs, European big science infrastructures and collaborations.
- Pillar 2: Global Collaboration. Covering collaboration with other regions and focusing on the development of R&E Networking globally.
- Pillar 3: European Autonomy. Ensuring appropriate level of control by GÉANT over intercontinental connectivity in support of European digital sovereignty.
With this new systematic approach, GÉANT is assessing intercontinental connectivity investment opportunities, ensuring alignment with the GÉANT Association’s strategy and governance and continuing to support the evolving needs of the European R&E. Long-term investment in connectivity to Singapore, a critical regional hub, alongside the purchase of spectrum to North America and participation in Medusa and Blue-Raman are practical examples of how this vision is being implemented.
An ambitious horizon
A new implementation roadmap developed by the project now guides the prioritisation of future investments, ensuring sufficient capacity and diversity for European R&E needs is acquired. Beyond past and ongoing projects, work in the context of Medusa is actively underway on connectivity through Aqaba to add an important node on routes between Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, Africa and Asia. Looking further ahead, GÉANT’s intercontinental focus will turn to the coast of West Africa. Further connectivity to India and Singapore from Europe via Djibouti to East and South Africa will be pursued in the near term as part of the Blue-Raman initiative.
Planned routes over the longer term include redundancy for South America to complement BELLA connectivity; increased connectivity to Asia via West Africa; and connectivity to Antarctica, supporting scientific efforts in one of the planet’s most remote and connectivity-constrained environments. Further connectivity to Canada and Japan also features in align with the Polar Connect initiative pioneered by NORDUnet that aims to open up new collaboration opportunities across the Arctic.
GÉANT’s ambition is to be an indispensable and trusted partner for both the European Commission and for global Research and Education Networks, enabling European researchers and academics to collaborate seamlessly on a global scale, while supporting European data sovereignty, security, and confidentiality. Achieving this will require continued joint efforts and collaboration between the European and global Research and Education Networking communities, policymakers, financial institutions, and private sector players — ensuring that research networks remain active and influential in this technology space.
The full summary document “Building Secure and Resilient Intercontinental Connectivity for European Research & Education” is available at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19946635
