Spanish operator Telefónica is planning to deploy a subsea cable connecting the Canary Islands to the Iberian Peninsula in mainland Spain.
Dubbed the Pencan-X project, the cable will offer eight fiber pairs. Although the exact capacity has not been shared, the cable is expected to increase existing capacity between the islands and mainland Spain tenfold.
Telefónica did not disclose the exact landing point of the cable, but Baird Maritime reported the cable would be mooring on the island of Gran Canaria and the province of Cádiz.
There are currently three existing cables connecting the same two points, but Telefónica España added one unnamed route will be retired and replaced by Pencan-X.
The telco said Pencan-X will provide greater transmission capacity, the possibility of supplying fiber services, and will enable network intelligence to automatically restore traffic channels.
At the end of last year, the European Union allocated €56.1 million ($58.2m) to support submarine cable networks to the Canary Islands, with Telefónica receiving €10.5 million ($10.8m).
Founded in 1924, Telefónica was the only Spanish telephone operator until 1997. It still holds a dominant market position and is present in more than 20 countries across Europe and the Americas.
In 2023, Saudi Arabia’s STC was in line to become the company’s largest shareholder, however, the Spanish government concluded its purchase of a 10 percent stake in Telefónica in 2024, ensuring it became the largest shareholder.
Currently, cables landing in the Canary Islands include SAT3 (formerly known as Pencan 7), Pencan-9, Pencan-8, Canalink, WACS, ACE, and 2Africa.
The archipelago is home to the TEIDE HPC and LAPALMA HPC supercomputers and the Astrofisica de Canarias observatory, and is visited by some 16 million tourists each year.
