Germany
Germany's North Sea coastline anchors a mix of transatlantic and intra-European submarine cables, giving the country direct fibre links to North America and Scandinavia alongside terrestrial connectivity across the continent.
Connectivity at a glance
- Cable systems
- 9active
- Landing points
- 3
- Resilience score
- 90
Cable systems serving Germany
| Cable | Status | Ready for service | Length | Design capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CANTAT-3 | active | 1994 }} | — | 2.5 Gigabit/Second |
| AC-1 | active | }} | 14,000 km | 40 Gbit/s |
| C-Lion1 | active | }} | 1,173 km | 120Tbit/s |
| Fehmarn Belt | active | — | — | — |
| Germany-Denmark 2 | active | — | — | — |
| TAT-10 | active | — | — | — |
| TAT-14 | active | — | 15,428 km | 9.38 Tbit/s |
| UK-Germany 5 | active | — | — | — |
| UK-Germany 6 | active | — | — | — |
Landing points
- Germany Norden, GermanyGermany Norden
- Germany Westerland, Schleswig-HolsteinGermany Westerland
- Sylt, GermanySylt
Cables and landing points
Germany's submarine cable footprint is concentrated along its North Sea coast, with documented landing points at Norden in Lower Saxony, Westerland on the island of Sylt, and Sylt itself in Schleswig-Holstein. This northern coastal strip serves as the country's gateway to both transatlantic and regional Baltic and North Sea routes.
Six cables are documented serving Germany. The transatlantic pair — AC-1, spanning roughly 14,000 km, and TAT-14, at approximately 15,428 km — link Germany directly to North America, placing it among the small group of European countries with multiple independent transatlantic fibre paths. CANTAT-3, active since 1994, adds a further transatlantic dimension with a route that predates the broadband era and represents one of the older fibre systems still in service on the register. TAT-10 rounds out the transatlantic picture, though its length is not yet documented here.
For regional connectivity, C-Lion1 — at around 1,173 km one of the shorter systems on the register — connects Germany southward through the Baltic toward Finland, reinforcing ties with northern Europe. The Fehmarn Belt cable, named for the strait separating Germany from Denmark, provides a direct short-haul link across that narrow crossing and complements the longer-haul systems with low-latency regional capacity.
Capacity and resilience
The mix of cables serving Germany is notably diverse for a single-country landing portfolio. Having multiple transatlantic systems means that no single cable failure would sever the country's direct fibre path to North America — a resilience characteristic that smaller or more peripheral nations on the register often lack. The presence of both legacy systems such as CANTAT-3 and newer infrastructure reflects successive generations of investment in the same landing corridor.
The regional cables, C-Lion1 and Fehmarn Belt, add a layer of diversity beyond the transatlantic axis, providing alternative routing options into Scandinavia and the broader Baltic region.
Geography's role
Germany's position on the North Sea places it at a natural waypoint for cables running between the British Isles, Scandinavia, and the European mainland. The Schleswig-Holstein coast, jutting northward toward Denmark, is particularly well situated for short Baltic crossings. That same geography has historically made the region attractive for cable landings, and the concentration of infrastructure at Norden and the Sylt–Westerland area reflects both technical convenience and the long-term accumulation of successive cable projects in a corridor that works.