Telefónica ramps up its edge datacentre rollout in Spain

• Telefónica is developing a network of distributed edge datacentres across Spain by repurposing former telecom exchanges
• It is adding a further seven this year to take the total to 17
• The telco will use the nodes for its own purposes and to offer sovereign services, such as GPU-as-a-service (GPUaaS)

Telefónica is adding seven new edge datacentres to its existing tally of 10 distributed IT facilities across Spain as part of a plan to support its own operations and offer sovereign services to enterprise customers. 

The telco, which is converting former telecom exchanges into mini datacentres for data processing, storage and analytics, currently has 10 active facilities – in Madrid (two), Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Bilbao, A Coruña and Terrassa – and will add further facilities this year in Zaragoza, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Valladolid, Gijón, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Santiago de Compostela and Mérida.

In this press release (in Spanish), the telco says the mini datacentres offer “significant compute and storage capacity at the edge, with lower latency and greater efficiency” that can offer AI services such as  GPU-as-a-service (GPUaaS) “while keeping workloads sovereign and latency low” and help Telefónica enhance the performance of its next-generation fibre and 5G networks. 

The facilities help to “ensure that data remains within environments governed by local regulations,” noted the telco, which stressed the potential of such edge datacentres to offer alternative cloud platforms to those built and run by the big tech giants. 

“This Telefónica‑led plan promotes the development of edge and cloud technologies in Europe and opens the possibility for other European operators to use these infrastructures securely, develop technology and reduce dependence on service providers whose platforms are located outside the European Union. In doing so, the project strengthens Europe’s industry while contributing to greater digital data sovereignty,” the operator proclaimed. 

Borja Ochoa, president of Telefónica Spain, stated: “Our Edge Plan places us at the European forefront of technology and data sovereignty. This pioneering project will be key to accelerating Spain’s digital transformation by enabling nationwide infrastructure that allows companies and public administrations to participate in the wave of growth associated with this deployment.”

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV