Greenland satellite services restored after Spanish blackout
A view of the Greenlandic telecommunications company Tusass in Nuuk, Greenland on Mar 9, 2025. (File photo: Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix, Mads Claus Rasmussen)
COPENHAGEN: Telecom services have been restored to remote communities in Greenland that were cut off from crucial satellite access due to a massive power blackout in far-away Spain, the Arctic island's telecoms group said on Tuesday (Apr 29).
Tusass, owned by Greenland's government, said on Monday that it had lost connection to satellite equipment based in Spain that provides telephone, internet, TV and radio services.
"It's because of an error some 3,000km away," a Tusass spokesperson told Reuters, adding that connection had been restored overnight.
In 2023, Tusass selected the Maspalomas ground station in Spain's Gran Canaria island off the west coast of Africa as the hub for its new satellite network, which provides a critical lifeline for some of Greenland's most isolated communities.
Spain and Portugal turned on their power again on Tuesday after the worst blackout in their history, though the authorities there offered little explanation for what had caused it or how they would prevent it from happening again.
