The Ministry of Economy and Enterprise publishes the call for aid for the deployment of ultra-fast broadband in 2019

14/04/2019
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  • The call, endowed with 150 million euros, will be open until May 20
  • This aid will allow to reach a coverage of 93.45% of the population with access speeds greater than 100 Mbp
    • The Ministry of Economy and Enterprise, through a resolution signed by the Secretary of State for Digital Advancement, has published the call for grants for the extension of broadband network deployments with access speed greater than 100 Mbps. In 2019, aid will be granted for a maximum amount of 150 million euros, with cofinancing from ERDF Community funds.

    The Ministry of Economy and Enterprise, through a resolution signed by the Secretary of State for Digital Advancement, has published the call for grants for the extension of broadband network deployments with access speed greater than 100 Mbps. In 2019, aid will be granted for a maximum amount of 150 million euros, with cofinancing from ERDF Community funds.

    The call for ultra-fast broadband network extension projects is included in the Next Generation Broadband Extension Program (PEBA-NGA). The objective of the PEBA-NGA is to accelerate the extension of networks with access capacity greater than 100 Mbps, supporting their deployment in the areas with no current or planned coverage in the next three years, called white areas, currently located in rural environments with low population density.

    The deadline for the submission of applications begins on the day following the publication of the extract of this resolution in the Official State Gazette and ends on May 20, 2019. The full resolution of the call is available in the help portal.

    The PEBA-NGA call in 2019 could facilitate access to broadband networks of speed greater than 100 Mbps to approximately 2,196,000 people who do not currently have it. As a result, once the implementation of the ultra-fast broadband deployment projects supported by this program is completed, by 2021 93.45% of the population would have Internet coverage with access speeds greater than 100 Mbps.

    The deployment of this type of networks is carried out mainly in our country with fiber optic technology to the home (FTTH).

    The aid for the new call for proposals, which will be granted on the basis of competitive competition, combines EUR 25 million from the General State Budget and EUR 125 million from Community ERDF funds.