Auður Confirms Iceland and Scotland Landing Sites

Elías Thorsson, Arctic Today
October 21, 2026

Icelandic telecommunications infrastructure company Korda has selected the landing sites for Auður, its planned subsea telecommunications cable between Iceland and Scotland. The Icelandic landing will be in Meðalland, south of Kirkjubæjarklaustur on Iceland's south coast, while the Scottish landing will be at Irvine Bay on the Firth of Clyde, west of Glasgow. Reported by Arctic Today on October 21, the selections establish the locations for a project first presented in April 2026, when its exact landing sites had not yet been identified.

Auður is intended to strengthen Iceland's links with Europe and add route diversity for data traffic. Beyond the subsea route, Korda plans a service delivery point in Glasgow. From that hub, it intends traffic routes to reach London, Ireland, continental Europe, and markets across the Nordic region. The confirmed landing locations give a more specific geographic outline to that connectivity plan. For the industry, the announcement brings together the proposed Iceland–Scotland cable route and its planned onward connections, while leaving the distinction between planned connectivity and an operational service clear.

Delivery preparations include an active tender for onshore fiber routes from the Meðalland landing site, with construction of those routes planned to begin in summer 2027. Seabed surveys are also planned for summer 2027. Pioneer Consulting is the project's lead consultant and will oversee tenders and the selection of contractors and suppliers for survey work, manufacturing, and cable laying. These procurement and oversight arrangements describe how the project is being prepared for delivery; they do not mean that survey work, manufacturing, or cable installation has begun.

The landing confirmations, onshore-route tender, and delivery planning provide new detail beyond the project concept announced in April. Auður's current milestone is site selection alongside active procurement for the Icelandic onshore routes, rather than the start of construction or service. The next scheduled field activities are the seabed surveys and the planned start of onshore-route construction in summer 2027. The cable is expected to enter service around the turn of 2029 to 2030, a future project expectation rather than a statement of current availability.

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