Tenerife Strengthens Canary Islands’ Digital Backbone
Tenerife’s Island Council has approved a new contract to reinforce the Canary Islands’ digital connectivity with Europe, ensuring communications remain operational even during power outages or emergencies. The agreement covers preventive and corrective maintenance for backup generators and auxiliary systems—including fuel tanks and switchgear—that support the technical infrastructure of Canalink, the public company responsible for maintaining the archipelago’s digital lifelines.
Protecting Critical Services
Council President Rosa Dávila emphasized the importance of automatic, reliable backup power systems, referencing the April 28 blackout that disrupted digital services across the islands for hours. “We can’t allow an incident beyond our borders to isolate us again,” she stated. The €133,000 contract, renewable for up to five years, specifically safeguards essential services including:
- Emergency 112 systems
- Healthcare networks
- Internet access
- Telecommunications
- Intergovernmental communications
Strategic Network Infrastructure
The maintenance program covers three technical centers housing submarine broadband cable equipment in:
- Güímar (Tenerife)
- El Goro and Nobel (Gran Canaria)
- Rota, Conil, and Santa Justa (Andalusia)
These facilities operate the undersea cables that maintain the Canary Islands’ international connections with Europe, Africa, and America. Juan José Martínez, Minister of Innovation, Research and Development, described this as strengthening a “silent but essential network” that keeps services running during power failures.
Canalink’s Global Reach
Created under the ALiXCanarias project, Canalink serves as a public, neutral operator managing over 35,000 km of optical fiber connecting to more than 20 countries. With presence points (PoPs) across three continents, the company has become a crucial digital hub between Africa and Europe. “Thanks to its strategic location and robust infrastructure, Canalink delivers stable, secure, high-speed connectivity,” Martínez concluded, highlighting the archipelago’s growing importance in global digital networks.
