Telefonica Tech and Google Cloud partnered on a product intended to meet the needs of Spanish public bodies and companies in highly regulated sectors with strict data sovereignty requirements.

The latest tie-up between the pair brings a joint service to market in Spain which allows information held in Google Cloud to be encrypted by keys generated and stored by Telefonica in its local infrastructure.

Having the keys generated and managed by an operator in Spain provides increased protection against unauthorised access from elsewhere in the world, Telefonica noted.

It added the Data Boundary model offered by the pair would provide verifiable controls over data protection and access, enabling compliance with digital sovereignty requirements.

Telefonica Tech CEO Sofia Collado said the offering would provide organisations with the means “to define precise data residency, access control and data protection policies through encryption keys generated and managed outside public cloud environments”.

Google Cloud country manager, Iberia, Isaac Hernandez added “there should be no conflict between Spain’s digital sovereignty and its economic competitiveness”.

“By combining our cutting-edge cloud capabilities with Telefonica’s local operational control and encryption management, we are empowering businesses and public administrations to innovate securely and confidently on their own terms.”

Google Cloud Data Boundary is offered across various global markets in partnership with companies in each country.

Telefonica noted it was selected as the tech giant’s “trusted partner for data sovereignty” in its home market.

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Telefonica highlighted the concrete benefits of operator sustainability efforts by cutting costs through reduced network energy consumption.

The operator noted use in 2025 was 12% lower than in 2015 and was achieved in the face of a 1,200% rise in data traffic over the period.

Telefonica credited a focus on improving network efficiency through more advanced energy management techniques, which it stated resulted in consumption of 29MWh per petabyte of traffic by 2025, 92% lower than in 2015.

It officially focused more on the service implications of the sustainability drive than the financial savings made, preferring to talk-up how a “technological evolution” of its infrastructure and data management techniques are contributing to lower energy consumption.

But it noted the energy optimisation moves are increasingly important in offsetting “risks associated with rising energy prices”.

Maya Ormazabal, global director of sustainability, said Telefonica is “able to move huge volumes of data using only a fraction of the electricity we needed a decade ago”.

The executive reasoned the change shows how “digitalisation and sustainability can go hand-in-hand”.

Telefonica positioned itself as a European frontrunner in terms of sustainability efforts.

It hailed a 49% drop in total carbon emissions between 2015 and 2025, a figure spanning its whole value chain.

Scope 1 and Scope 2 operational emissions are down 91%, with Scope 3 lowered by 34% since 2016.

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