Nokia powers Telefónica's AI-ready edge data centers in Spain

Telefónica is at the forefront of digital innovation, committed to enhancing its infrastructure to support next-generation services and reinforce national technological sovereignty in Spain.

Telefónica sought to evolve its digital infrastructure to deliver advanced services like Artificial Intelligence (AI), B2B applications, and Telco Cloud closer to end-users. This required a distributed Edge architecture capable of providing high speed, ultra-low latency, and strong reliability across Spain, while also ensuring data sovereignty.

Telefónica selected Nokia as its exclusive partner to deploy networking solutions for 17 new Edge data center throughout Spain. Nokia's solution provides connectivity for compute and storage within these Edge nodes and links them to the wider network, utilizing Nokia's 7220 Interconnect Router (IXR) data center switches and 7750 Service Router (SR) data center gateways. This approach ensures deep automation, multi-cloud integration, and agile adaptability for emerging digital demands.

Under a multi-year agreement, Nokia has already deployed 12 of the 17 planned Edge nodes, including at Telefónica’s flagship Tecno-Alcalá site. This rapid rollout follows a successful initial pilot of three Edge data centers in 2024, establishing Nokia as the sole networking technology partner. This single-vendor model simplifies operations, unifies the architecture, and enhances overall efficiency.

The new Edge nodes supports AI training and inferencing, powering essential digital services in critical sectors such as healthcare, education, industry and government. This deployment significantly enhances Spain’s position in advanced digital infrastructure, bringing intelligence and services closer to where they are needed most.

Telefónica plans to continue leveraging this advanced infrastructure to expand its Edge Cloud and AI capabilities, driving further growth and innovation across its services.