Interview
Ahead of next week’s Submarine Networks EMEA event, Total Telecom caught up with Mario Martín, CEO of Telxius to find out more about the company’s activities in the global subsea cable market.
Can you tell us more about Telxius’ global network footprint? Are you currently investing in any new subsea cable projects?
Of course. Telxius provides global digital infrastructure featuring ultra-high-capacity, low-latency and high-availability, as well as a suite of value-added services covering Colocation, IP and Security.
The Telxius network features more than 82,000 km of high-capacity fibre optic subsea cables, designed to connect the main digital data hubs in the world. It also features 15 communications hubs including two advanced communications hubs in Derio (Spain) and Virginia Beach (US) that connect to the main data centres in the world. This is combined with onward terrestrial connectivity to key communications hubs across Europe, plus Latin, Central and North America, which means we can give customers greater control over the experience and resiliency they can offer.
We recently announced a new submarine cable to connect Guatemala and the United States – Tikal. It’s going to offer the highest capacity between Puerto Barrios (Guatemala) and Boca Raton (US), and also gives us options to incorporate additional landings in Cancun (Mexico) and Barranquilla (Colombia). We’re really looking forward to making this live.
Our robust set of next-generation subsea cables Marea, Brusa, Dunant, Tannat, Junior, Mistral and soon, Tikal, fully serve the Americas and Europe. By integrating these next-generation cables into our network, we’re enhancing our traditional routes and providing improved connectivity and faster data transmission in the Americas and Europe. This has been a huge step forward for Telxius and really highlights our commitment to delivering cutting-edge telecommunications infrastructure to our customers.
Telxius’ VP Sales, Carlos Casado, will be joining a panel on “What’s on the horizon for the submarine cable industry” at the event later next week. What key themes do you expect to come up during the discussion?
That’s right, there’s going to be a lot of interesting things to talk about. I think one key topic will be how the submarine cable industry is well placed to contribute to the unstoppable digitalisation trends, and why.
Another relevant topic to be discussed would be the new systems that are being deployed globally, and the transformations we can see happening in Telxius as market demands evolve.
We’ve seen lots of investment in the subsea cable market in the past few years, do you see this continuing?
Definitely – digitalisation could not exist without submarine cables. We have to bear in mind that submarine cables carry 99% of international IP traffic. They are the real arteries of the Internet and form the backbone of global telecommunications infrastructure.
Digital infrastructure, subsea cable systems, onward connectivity, colocation services and other value-add services all provide a foundation for innovation, transformation and digital experiences.
Telxius is a good example of subsea cable investment over the last few years. Five years ago, 90% of our revenues were concentrated in a single submarine cable system, SAm-1, which was nearing the end of its useful life. Well aware of this challenge, we put together a strategic roadmap to develop our infrastructure and associated network solutions. This has allowed us to deploy seven new next-generation systems in the last five years and radically transform the Telxius network. Our network has more than doubled in size, now spanning over 82,000 km of submarine fibre.
Which regions globally are you seeing the most activity and growth in?
There are a number of markets across the globe experiencing huge levels of growth. Some of those that we are particularly interested in are Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America.
Some of these markets are already very strong such as Spain, which is ideally positioned to be a hub for connecting Africa, the Americas and Europe. It provides a number of landing points, digital hubs, exchange points, data centres, cloud regions and more, plus connectivity across the Atlantic and access to the Mediterranean. The strength of this market is demonstrated through some hyperscalers’ plans to open data centres and cloud regions. Spain and the rest of Europe are key focus areas for us due to the huge levels of demand coming from these markets.
On the other hand, a number of Latin American and Caribbean markets are set to experience rapid cloud growth in the near future, which also puts them front and centre. Colombia for example, has a privileged geographical position as it has two coasts – the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean – which make it an ideal connection point for all kinds of content platforms to operate in Latin America from anywhere in the world. Since Colombia is a key emerging hub in Latin America, we are monitoring it closely and considering the extension of Tikal to Barranquilla. We’re focused on providing seamless connectivity between Europe, the Americas and beyond.
Why is Telxius looking forward to Submarine Networks EMEA 2023?
There are lots of things we’re looking forward to at Submarine Networks EMEA. Perhaps the thing we’re most looking forward to is connecting with customers and partners. It’s always great to meet face-to-face.
The team is also keen to engage in productive conversations that will help us to fulfil our aspiration of being the best global provider of digital infrastructure based on submarine cables. The event has a lot to offer and will contribute to us developing a more successful digital infrastructure business overall, so we’re really looking forward to it.
Carlos Casado, VP Sales and David Simarro, Head of Business Development EMEA at Telxius will both be speaking at Submarine Networks EMEA 2023. The region’s pre-eminent subsea conference will see over 800 attendees from the global subsea cable market meet at the Business Design Centre in London on 31st May and 1st June. Head to the event website to secure your place.