I have been writing for some time about the importance of submarine cables for Portugal and about the opportunity that our Atlantic position represents in the new digital economy.
After the discussions I had the opportunity to follow and moderate this year at the Atlantic Convergence, I became even more convinced of an idea that I consider essential: we should not measure Portugal's success only by the number of cables that reach our shores. The true economic value begins after they reach land.
A submarine cable is an extraordinarily important infrastructure. It connects continents, carries enormous volumes of data and can place Portugal in a privileged position between Europe, the Americas and Africa. But a cable that arrives in our territory and simply forwards the data to another country leaves in Portugal only a limited part of the value it could generate.
The opportunity begins when we can build around that connectivity. Terrestrial fibre, interconnection points, data centres, cloud, computing power, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and technology companies transform a gateway infrastructure into a true economic ecosystem.
It is a similar logic to what we know from other value chains. Having a port through which goods pass is important. Being able to add logistics, processing, industry, services and distribution around that port multiplies its economic impact. Something similar happens with data.
This is precisely why submarine cables, energy, and data centres can no longer be discussed separately. Data needs to be transported, but to be processed it also needs computing power. That capacity needs buildings, land, fibre, and, increasingly, huge amounts of energy. Each of these pieces increases the value of the others.
Portugal meets several interesting conditions. We have geography, growing Atlantic connectivity, renewable capacity, talent and proximity to the European market. But having the ingredients does not automatically mean creating the recipe. We need networks, electricity capacity, prepared territory, speed of licensing and a strategy capable of transforming connectivity into investment.
There is also a local dimension that we cannot ignore. The arrival of a cable can be a national or international decision, but much of the investment that may be born around it will depend on the capacity of the territories to receive companies and infrastructure. This is where municipalities, operators, owners, investors and decision-makers need to understand what is at stake.
The right question, therefore, is no longer just how many submarine cables reach Portugal. It is how many companies, data centres, technological services, qualified jobs and investment we can create from them.
For centuries we knew that having a good trade route was not enough. It was necessary to build ports, cities, commerce and economic activity around them.
In the digital economy, it is exactly the same.
The cables put Portugal on the map. The real challenge is to ensure that the value does not simply pass through us. Because the cable may be at the bottom of the Atlantic, but the true economic value of the data is built on land.