Güimar, Canary Islands, Spain

Güimar, Canary Islands, Spain: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Güimar is a landing point located on the island of Tenerife, in the Canary Islands archipelago, an autonomous community of Spain situated in the Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of Africa. As a submarine cable landing point, Güimar hosts one submarine cable connection, linking the Canary Islands to Morocco and to other points along the Spanish cable network. Its position on Tenerife places it at the intersection of European and North African submarine cable routes.

The single cable landing at Güimar, Canalink, establishes a regional corridor between the Canary Islands, Morocco, and Spain. This connection enables communication between the Spanish archipelago and the North African mainland, representing a cross-strait link across a relatively short but strategically positioned stretch of the Atlantic and the waters approaching the Strait of Gibraltar.

Cables Landing at Güimar

Canalink is a submarine cable with a total length of 1,835 kilometres, which reached its ready-for-service status in 2011, initially on a draft basis. The cable connects Güimar in the Canary Islands with landing points in Morocco and elsewhere in Spain, forming a regional loop that ties the Canary Islands archipelago to both the Iberian Peninsula and the North African coast. No additional technical specifications, such as capacity or fiber pair count, are available for this cable.

Regional Context

Within Spain's submarine cable landing point network, Güimar is one of several locations in the Canary Islands alongside Alta Vista, Candelaria, and Granadilla de Abona, each of which hosts two cables. Güimar, with its single cable connection, is a more modest node compared to these peers and to the larger Spanish hubs such as Barcelona, which hosts three cables. Nevertheless, Güimar contributes to the overall distribution of submarine cable infrastructure across the Canary Islands, a region that collectively maintains significant Atlantic connectivity.

Network Role

Güimar functions as a single-cable terminus rather than a multi-cable hub, serving as the Tenerife endpoint for the Canalink system. Through this connection, the landing point enables direct submarine cable communication between the Canary Islands, Morocco, and the broader Spanish network, supporting a cross-regional corridor that spans from an Atlantic archipelago to the African continent. The cable's 1,835-kilometre length reflects the geographic reach required to bridge these territories across open Atlantic and near-coastal waters.

In the wider submarine cable graph of the region, Güimar's role is that of a focused, single-link node that complements the denser cable presence found at other Canary Islands landing points. Its connection to Morocco in particular adds a North Africa dimension to Tenerife's submarine cable footprint that not all island landing points share.