Canalink

Overview

Canalink is a submarine cable system spanning 1,835 km that connects Morocco and Spain, including several landing points across the Canary Islands. The cable serves the corridor between northwestern Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, while also linking the Spanish mainland to its Canary Islands territories in the Atlantic Ocean.

Route and Landings

In Morocco, the cable lands at Asilah, on the Atlantic coast near the Strait of Gibraltar.

On the Spanish mainland, Canalink comes ashore at Conil de la Frontera, Rota, and Granadilla de Abona.

The Canary Islands are served by four landing points distributed across the archipelago: El Goro and Güimar on Gran Canaria and Tenerife respectively, Santa Cruz de La Palma on La Palma, and Tinocas on another island within the group.

Ownership and Operators

Canalink is owned by IT3. As a single-owner cable, it operates outside the multi-party consortium model common to many international submarine systems.

Status and Timeline

Canalink became ready for service in 2011, establishing connectivity between Morocco, the Spanish mainland, and the Canary Islands across its 1,835 km route.

Regional Context

Canalink operates in a corridor that has attracted a number of other submarine cable systems. Larger systems serving Spain include 2Africa, at 45,000 km and ready for service in 2024, and Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), at 17,000 km, which entered service in 2012. More recent additions to the Morocco–Spain corridor include the Medusa Submarine Cable System, planned for 2026 at 8,760 km, and Maroc Telecom West Africa, which became operational in 2021. Grace Hopper and Sol also serve Spain, at 7,191 km and 8,153 km respectively. Among these systems, Canalink is notably compact, focused on the short hop between northwest Africa and the Canary Islands rather than longer intercontinental reaches.

Performance measurements over the last 60 days, drawn from 87 ping tests through Canalink, show an average round-trip latency of 102.2 ms, with a best recorded result of 36.2 ms.

Strategic Role

Canalink provides direct submarine connectivity between Morocco and multiple points in Spain, with particular density of landings across the Canary Islands. Its eight landing stations across two countries allow the Canary Islands to maintain submarine cable connections both to the Spanish mainland and to Morocco's Atlantic coast, supporting redundancy within the archipelago through its spread of island landing sites.