Catalonia will form part of a project promoted by Facebook and major international communication operators for the construction of a 37,000 kilometre-long submarine fiber optic cable that will interconnect Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The 2Africa cable will be the second longest fiber optic cable in the world, stated Catalan digital policies minister, Jordi Puigneró.
Puigneró explained in a tweet that Catalonia has been working for years to develop the conditions that allow this type of facility to arrive.
"After 5 years of intense, discreet work by the Catalan government," said the minister, "we can today announce that in 2023 the second most important submarine fiber optic cable in the world will arrive in Catalunya". The digital policies department explained the importance of submarine cables in the global telecommunications network: "99% of intercontinental internet traffic is conducted on submarine fiber optic cables."
The operators collaborating on this project together with Facebook include China Mobile International, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, STC, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC.
The minister stressed the potential that this type of infrastructure represents for Catalonia's economic development. "If the big industries of the 20th century were looking for highways, ports and airports to set up their businesses, now the big companies of the 21st century are looking for international connectivity. And that's what the submarine cable means," he explained.
An infrastructure such as this, tweeted Puigneró, "will convert Catalonia into a pole of attraction for major investments by the new digital economy and will allow our technological ecosystem to provide digital services to the whole world".
Torra: Digital sector "hugely important" in recovery
Catalan president Quim Torra also commented on the project this Monday. "This is a consequence of our strategy under minister Puigneró to position Catalonia as the leading digital hub of southern Europe." He stressed the significance of not only the development but also its timing: "It is hugely important both in terms of the economic recovery and the creation of quality jobs, which the technology sector is an example of." "It will generate business and employment opportunities for the entire digital ecosystem," said the president.
"Without a doubt, the technology sector will be key in the months ahead for Catalonia," predicted Quim Torra. "The sector should know that the government is standing beside it and will do all it can to make it function well, put it on the cutting edge, and turn it into a pole for the Catalan economy," he concluded.