Colt’s network in Spain and Portugal already serves Lisbon, Bilbao, Madrid and Barcelona, and it has 13 connection points to data centres in Barcelona.
Christian Schmidt, network expansion manager for Colt Spain, said: “The Barcelona landing station for submarine cables will position the [Iberian] peninsula geo-strategically as a key access point to Europe.”
The CLS (pictured) is 500m from the sea, in a trading estate that faces an unlovely stretch of Barcelona’s beach that has cement works and an Air Liquide plant. It is about 1.5km from Barcelona’s more famous marina.
Schmidt said: “Colt is involved in the repositioning of the Iberian peninsula as a European digital hub, establishing itself as a key player in linking the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe. In order to avoid overcrowding in Europe, the peninsula has become an essential enclave for diversifying connectivity.”
Norman Albi, CEO of AFR-IX Telecom, said: “We are very proud that Colt, with whom AFR-IX Telecom has had a long-standing business relationship, will be part of the Barcelona CLS project.”
AFR-IX already uses Colt’s network in the African market to provide an internet service to African operators and customers to connect them to European data centres via Colt’s routes.
He said: “With Colt’s arrival, we are sure that other operators will follow, as synergies are very important in this sector.”
Schmidt added: “The target is to build faster routes, add complementary alternatives, connect the largest number of data centres and cloud service providers, to contribute decisively to the digitalisation of companies located in Spain or with operations in the country.”
