As recently as 2015, the only connection to the outside world for Norilsk, Russia, the earth’s northernmost city, was by satellite. The 180,000 residents, businesses and public institutions of that industrial city found bandwidth channel prices expensive and end-user internet services slow and expensive.

Seeing a critical need for massive improvement in connectivity, the Edinstvo subsidiary of locally-based metals mining giant Norilsk Nickel stepped up with funding to develop and deploy a fiber optic backbone network. When the project kicked off in November 2015, vendors and contractors faced tremendous hurdles. The sometimes harrowing obstacles included winter temperatures of 40°C or lower; virtually impassible winter tundra that turned to summer marshland; drilling cable pilons into forbidding soil; and even threats from wildlife, including eagles and bears.

Finally, in September 2017, Norlisk launched its first-ever fiber optic backbone network. The city’s businesses, residents and institutions began enjoying the benefits of a 40 Gbps network, including faster and cheaper internet, voice and other broadband services.

OFS manufactured all of the fiber optic cable used in this network build and continues to be the major cable supplier for extension of the project north to Dudinka and south to Igarka.

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