The 17,000km cable project was first announced over a decade ago and the most recent update was publicised in October 2011 when it received the backing of the Governmental Commission for Federal Communications and Technological Issues.
Polarnet is planned to link from Bude, UK to Toyo, Japan creating the lowest latency route between the two countries at a cost of $800 million.
A second phase would see the cable extended to the coast of the Russian Arctic and far-east territories at a cost of $500 million before a third phase linking to the Transneft domestic oil pipeline via terrestrial cable. Costs for the first phase have reportedly risen to $980 million after Tata Communications withdrew its support for the project due to inactivity.
During the October 2012 Capacity Russia conference the feasibility of the project was dismissed by representatives from Rostelecom, MegaFon and TTK.
