Telco infrastructures, crucial for growth in EU’s Outermost Regions [Promoted content]

Advanced and robust electronic communications infrastructures are crucial to combat depopulation and inequalities in the Outermost Regions. Without advanced digital network infrastructures, the applications that make our lives easier will not emerge and consumers will be deprived of the benefits of advanced technologies. Studies show that there is a correlation between increased deployment of fixed and mobile broadband and economic development. Remarkably, newly installed submarine cables have been shown to boost GDP.

Alberto Moreno, Head of Regulation, Telefónica España.

On the other hand, a precondition for secure communications is a higher level of resilience and integration of all communication channels: terrestrial, satellite and, above all, submarine. In the context of increased cybersecurity and sabotage threats, governments in all regions are paying special attention to their potential reliance on critical submarine cables because, in fact, more than 99% of intercontinental data traffic is conducted through submarine cables, not forgetting that several islands in Europe rely heavily on these submarine cables for communications within the EU.

The security and resilience of the telecom networks are essential elements to strengthen Europe’s digital autonomy. Submarine connectivity and submarine cables are a singularly urgent issue for public authorities and pose a challenge to the EU’s resilience. Current legislation ensures the safety of submarine cables when they are used, specifically, by providers of communications networks and services. Providers of such services are required to take appropriate and proportionate technical and organizational measures to adequately manage the risks posed to the security of networks and services, including protection against physical damage.

The Canary Islands are in urgent need to establish an alternative secure route in its connection to EU mainland to increase the capacity and resilience of existing submarine cable infrastructure and generate the necessary redundancy to face the increasing number of risks and vulnerabilities including the risk of third country interference on a supplier and the risk of coordinated physical attack/sabotage.

Let’s also remind that Canary Islands accounts for almost half of the population of all EU Outermost Regions and even it is more populated than some EU Member States such as Malta, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, or Slovenia.  Canary Islands also host two of the most powerful High-Performance Computers of Spain (TEIDE HPC and LAPALMA HPC) and is home of IAC, one of the most relevant astrophysical observatories worldwide. In addition, near 16 million tourists visit Canary Islands each year.

Telefónica is firmly committed to improving the connectivity and resilience of the submarine cable infrastructures in Canary Island and believes that due to the privileged location of Canary Islands, it is undoubtedly a strategic option for becoming interconnection hub for many African and South American countries, strengthening the digital link with the EU.

It should be noticed that the European Commission has suggested to Member States and Outermost regions public administration to consider funding the improvement of digital infrastructure and high-speed connectivity under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding program¹. The Commission encourages Member States and Outermost Regions to seize opportunities to fund digital infrastructure and connectivity under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program.

However, none of the previous calls of the CEF program has awarded funds for reinforcing the resilience and geographic diversification of submarine cable connectivity of Canary Islands to the EU mainland.

Resolution of on-going CEF-DIG-2023-GATEWAYS-WORKS call would be a unique opportunity for ensuring resilient, robust and future-proof submarine infrastructure for the most relevant outermost regions in the European Union. By bridging the digital divide, we empower these regions to thrive in an interconnected world.

Reference:

[1] Communication COM(2022) 198 Putting people first, securing sustainable and inclusive growth, unlocking the potential of the EU’s outermost regions.