Breaking the monopoly

In 1997 the company Zone Systems broke the state monopolies in the Scandinavian telecommunications markets by building a transmission link between Sweden and Denmark. The transmission was based on a microwave radio. This was the beginning of GlobalConnect.

The first fibre optic network

In 1998 Zone Systems participated in Denmark's first fibre optic cable trenching operation, and Zone system was restructured by seperating the company's activities into two businesses. One company, Zone Systems A/S, would focus on hardware products for broadcast and telecom. The second company, GlobalConnect A/S, would focus on fibre optic networks and services for telecommunications.

During 1999 GlobalConnect's fibre optic network expanded to cover most of Denmark and northern Germany, and more than 1.2 billion dollars were invested. In order to strengthen its finances GlobalConnect received additional capital from the U.S. venture fund Paradigm Ventures in March 1999. Later the same year the first major service contract for fibre optic networking was signed with the first international telecommunications operator, and it was soon followed by a number of other important contracts.

Connections to Germany & Sweden

The first fibre route went from Copenhagen to Esbjerg and began operation in 1999, and the final deployment of a full ring structure, which connected Copenhagen to Hamburg, was completed in December 2000.

In 2000 GlobalConnect started its actual data and telecommunications business. Prior to this period GlobalConnect's business was primarily project driven, focusing on the development and construction of fiber-optic networks, and GlobalConnect was engaged in the pre-selling of network capacity. In 2001 GlobalConnect built an additional fiber ring from Kolding to Sæby, on to Gothenburg in Sweden, and back to Copenhagen.

The fibre network becomes operational

In 2001 GlobalConnect's network became fully operational, and the company began offering network services. Dark fiber had been the main product of GlobalConnect, but transmission capacity was now rapidly increasing in importance as the main product.

Today GlobalConnect offers a wide range of products and services to innovative, cost-conscious IT and telecommunications companies and many others who prefer an independent supplier of network solutions.