Every landing point of this cable has another cable within 50 km.
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Counted: other international cables landing in the same country (domestic cables between points of one country are not a way out), other cables at landing points within 50 km, and whether the country has land links. Not counted: cable capacity, operator contracts and satellite. Use as a first look at dependence, not as a statement of what would happen.
About the Pencan-8 Cable System
Pencan-8: Submarine cable connecting mainland Spain and the Canary Islands
The Pencan-8 submarine cable is a telecommunications system owned by Telefonica that connects the Canary Islands with mainland Spain. Its landing points are located at Candelaria on Tenerife and Conil de la Frontera in Andalusia. Spanning approximately 1400 km, the cable plays a role in linking the island archipelago with the European continent. It has been listed as in service since 2011, though discrepancies in publicly available sources regarding the exact ready-for-service date may exist.
What stands out about Pencan-8 is the lack of publicly disclosed data on its design capacity, fiber pair count, supplier, and technology. While these details are often shared for other submarine cables, their absence here limits a deeper technical understanding of its capabilities. Additionally, the cable operates within a corridor that hosts other systems, such as CANDALTA at Candelaria and Canalink at Conil de la Frontera, providing redundancy options in case of outages.
The Pencan-8 cable connects two landing points: Candelaria on Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, and Conil de la Frontera on the southern coast of mainland Spain. Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an archipelago located off the northwest coast of Africa. Conil de la Frontera, situated in Andalusia, serves as a strategic landing site for cables linking Spain to nearby regions. The 1400 km route traverses the Atlantic Ocean, connecting the islands with the mainland and facilitating communication and data exchange.
Why it was built and what it carries
Pencan-8 was built to enhance connectivity between the Canary Islands and mainland Spain. As a Telefonica-owned system, it likely supports the operator's broadband, voice, and data services for residential, business, and governmental users. The Canary Islands are a popular tourist destination and home to over two million residents, necessitating reliable telecommunications infrastructure. Submarine cables like Pencan-8 are essential for providing high-speed internet and other digital services to island communities, which would otherwise rely on slower or less reliable satellite links.
History: what can be established
According to GeoCables data, Pencan-8 was listed as ready for service in 2011. However, the submarine cable industry occasionally reports conflicting dates for cable activation. These discrepancies could arise from differences in defining "ready-for-service" (e.g., completion of physical installation versus full operational status), delays in regulatory approvals, or updates to cable specifications post-deployment. Without corroborating industry documentation, the 2011 date remains the most reliable reference.
Capacity and technology
Publicly available information does not disclose Pencan-8's design capacity, fiber pair count, supplier, or specific technology. This lack of transparency makes it difficult to assess the cable's technical performance or compare it with other systems in the region. Submarine cables typically use dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technology to maximize capacity, but attributing this to Pencan-8 without documentation would be speculative.
Latency: the physics
Theoretical latency for Pencan-8 can be calculated based on its length of 1400 km. Light propagating through optical fiber travels at approximately 200,000 to 204,000 km/s, resulting in a one-way latency of about 6.9 milliseconds. The round-trip time (RTT) for the wet segment alone is approximately 13.7 milliseconds. Real-world latency, however, is higher due to additional factors such as land-based transmission, terminal equipment delays, and routing inefficiencies. No live measurements for Pencan-8 are currently available to validate its actual performance.
Redundancy: what happens if it breaks
In the event of a disruption to Pencan-8, redundancy is provided by other cables in the region. At Candelaria, the CANDALTA cable serves as an alternative connection for the Canary Islands, while Canalink at Conil de la Frontera offers redundancy on the mainland side. Submarine cable repairs typically involve deploying specialized vessels to locate and fix faults, which can take days or weeks depending on the severity of the issue and weather conditions.
Bottom line
Pencan-8 connects Candelaria (Tenerife) with Conil de la Frontera (mainland Spain) over a 1400 km route.
Owned by Telefonica, it has been in service since 2011, though date discrepancies could exist.
Design capacity, fiber pairs, supplier, and technology are not publicly disclosed.
Theoretical RTT for the wet segment is approximately 13.7 milliseconds; real-world latency is higher.
Redundancy is provided by CANDALTA and Canalink in the same corridor.