Canary Islands It will be one of the places in the world where the communications satellites that provide telephone coverage and Internet of high speed. After the signing of a collaboration agreement between the Tenerife Council and the company Arquimea, it has been agreed that the Technological and Renewable Energy Institute (ITER) will host this infrastructure which, on the other hand, is vital to carry out one of the most ambitious projects of the Spanish company also based in Canary Islands: deploy a network of telecommunications satellites specific to the Archipelago.
This was agreed this morning in the same ITER offices by the president of the Cabildo, Rosa Dávila, and the CEO of Arquimea, Manuel García-Sañudo, in a meeting that was also attended by the Minister of Innovation, Research and Development, Juan José Martínez. An action that will position the Canary Islands as a “reference enclave in telecommunications”, as García-Sañudo has argued.
“It is the first phase of this project whose objective is to provide the Canary Islands with a high-speed and secure connection,” emphasizes the CEO of Arquimea. In this sense, in addition to establishing a control tower with which to monitor the proper functioning of telecommunications satellites, the creation of a teleport has also been established to connect this infrastructure with Canalink, the communications operator of the Canary Islands. As García-Sañudo summarizes, this teleport “will operate third-party satellites and provide satellite data upload and download services, antenna hosting, and secure data control and storage.”
This project will make the Canary Islands a reference enclave in telecommunications
With this control tower, the Canary Islands will not only be able to monitor the operation of the satellites that will make up the constellation CanarySat, but it will also be able to provide coverage to other networks around the world, such as those deployed by the United States or Australia. “It will connect with these networks when they are out of sight of their respective places of origin,” explains the CEO of Arquimea.
That the Canary Islands become a control tower is a vital step to guarantee that it can monitor the ambitious telecommunications network that Arquimea wants to deploy to provide coverage and high-speed internet to “every corner of the Archipelago.” Arquimea wants to send a total of 66 telecommunications satellites into space in what is known as low orbit (LEO), and will do so, according to its forecasts, before 2027. “We are in the design and construction phase and we believe that they will be ready at the end of 2024”, reveals García-Señudo.
The satellites will be launched on one of the SpaceX company rockets, of billionaire Elon Musk, on different occasions. The two test satellites will first be launched in 2026 to verify that the technology works correctly. “The rest, a total of 64, will be launched before 2027,” reveals García-Señudo. The 66 satellites will be arranged in three different orbits that will pass through the Canary Islands. “They will move at high speed so it will take only 50 minutes to go around the planet,” he explains.
This number of satellites It is the minimum to be able to guarantee good telephone service. Because LEO satellites orbit the Earth so quickly, there must always be enough to ensure uninterrupted access, with enough time for the ground station to complete the handover to the next satellite before the preceding satellite disappears over the horizon.
Satellites in low orbit are located at an altitude ranging from 160 to 2,000 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. These orbits are widely used for Earth observation, communication and navigation. Due to their low altitude, LEO satellites have a fast orbital speed and can provide global coverage in a short time.
By having a lower latency in data transmission, these satellites are ideal for developing better mobile telephony, satellite television and high-speed internet.
“We can achieve a low-latency network with very high capacity, as well as a high-speed connection, which is essential for the development of the technology sector in the Canary Islands,” argues the CEO of Arquimea, who insists that this deployment can provide the Archipelago with new opportunities. development in areas such as telemedicine, banking or cybersecurity. In fact, it is estimated that the CanarySat project will generate around 100 new direct and indirect high-skilled jobs and will attract high added value companies.
The investment necessary to launch this constellation amounts to 300 million euros
The investment necessary to launch this constellation amounts to 300 million euros. To achieve this, the company hopes to have investors, both national and international, who seek to participate in a technological project with high growth potential. In addition, the project has been certified as suitable for RIC investment (Reserve for Investments in the Canary Islands), which is an incentive for Canarian investors.
Dávila has assured that he wants to “convert Tenerife in the epicenter of technological development in the Canary Islands, bridging the distances in kilometers that previously distanced us from the most developed centers on the planet.” The president of the Tenerife Cabildo has also emphasized that the deployment of this project in the Islands has was able to carry out “thanks to our tax incentives and the opportunities that our geographical location also provides.”
In turn, the president highlighted that “this project represents a great opportunity for Tenerife and the entire Canary Islands, by turning the islands into a reference hub in telecommunications and satellite operations at a global level, thus responding to the growing global demand for satellite telecommunications services”, and assured that CanarySat will improve connectivity on the islands and between the Archipelago and the rest of the world.
In this sense, Juan José Martínez has highlighted the strategic importance of the technological companies present in Tenerife, such as the Institute of Technology and Renewable Energies (ITER) and Canalink, in the construction of a diversified and technologically advanced ecosystem. “The alliance with Arquimea for the development of CanarySat is an opportunity to boost the island economy through job creation and attraction of investments in the technological field,” Martínez concludes.
CanarySat will provide service to satellite operators and will be compatible with other constellations, such as BeetleSat or IRIS, the multi-orbit satellite telecommunications constellation that the European Commission plans to deploy in 2027. In addition, it will be able to improve the security services of the Canary Islands Administration. and opens the possibility for the Archipelago to promote the creation of a telephone or internet operator specific to the Islands.
