Logroño, Nov. 21 (EFE).- The President of Hispasat, Jordi Hereu, has advocated collaboration between different European countries in order to compete in the satellite sector with other world powers and commercial companies.
Hereu made these statements to the media on the occasion of his presence in Logroño to offer the conference “Satellite, an antidote to digital inequality”, in an act organized by the International University of La Rioja (UNIR).
He pointed out that “in the new digital era, the greatest inequality in which the world finds itself is the disconnection of the Internet” and the satellite guarantees fast, efficient and cheap connectivity in mountainous or inaccessible areas.
He underlined the particular importance that satellites can have, to guarantee connectivity “not in Spain, a country that has good infrastructures in this field, but especially in Latin America”.
“One of the things that worries us the most today is digital connectivity, because for digitization we need something basic, to be connected” and “satellite is a technology that allows us to universalize this connectivity.
He pointed out that “in Latin America many people are not connected and satellite telecommunications are the great instrument to make digital connectivity universal”, which is linked to progress “and also to the social and economic development of country “.
According to its data, in Latin America approximately 240 million people do not have access to terrestrial digital services, “and this means that they are outside the possibilities of development” of the digital society, “therefore it is clear that the satellite has a big role to play,” he said, referring to the infrastructure offered by Hispasat.
He acknowledged that at present, alongside companies like his, which try to offer telecommunications services to citizens, there are others who have different interests, with which “although space has historically been a place of cooperation, it is now another area with very significant geostrategic importance”.
It is precisely for this reason that “Europe, as in other areas, must come together to develop strategic autonomy projects” in the same way that “Hispasat is a strategic country project” which “was born thirty years ago because he believed in the importance of communications and also served as a driving force for the space industry in Spain”.
At the moment, in the satellite industry, “the United States, China and other blocs are playing their part” and “either Europe joins in its efforts or it would obviously have problems with the giants telecommunications”.
Something, he said, which “has grown stronger in the last three years in which we have learned the concept of strategic autonomy and which can only be achieved by adding effort”, because “we are in a very competitive market” and “also that would strengthen ties with Latin America”, concluded Hereu.