Canalink, a company dependent on the Technological Institute of Renewable Energies (ITER), will receive 23.4 million euros of European aid for the deployment of a fiber optic cable between Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura Y Lanzaroteas well as carrying out a study for the deployment of new cables in the Archipelago.
The President of the Council of TenerifePedro Martín, has highlighted that this new project represents a “third leap” after managing to connect the submarine cable from Tenerife to Gran Canaria and La Palma and from Gran Canaria to Lisbon, and also manages to “practically connect Canary Islands with the world from the digital point of view and from the point of view of telecommunications”.
Pedro Martín has highlighted that it is also strengthening a company like Canalink, which already provides services to companies such as Vodafone, Más Móvil or Orange and African companies such as Maroc Telecom, the most important in Morocco, and which also handles 70% of digital cable traffic submarine that Mauritania has.
The insular president stressed that this project introduces an element of competition, since without the contribution of Canalink there would only be a single company that would have a monopoly on the entire system, and also allow the introduction of the latest generation submarine cable, with a useful life of about 30 years.
For the implementation of this project, the Cabildo de Tenerife will contribute a total of 11 million euros, although it is estimated that Canalink can obtain annual benefits of between 5 or 6 million euros thanks to the deployment of the new submarine cable and the entry of new companies that hire their services.
After having signed the grant yesterday, from now on the competition and bidding processes will begin and the execution period of the new submarine cable to connect Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura will last about 46 monthshaving a limit until the end of 2026 to start this project.
