The Broadband Extension Program will expand coverage to more than 650,000 homes and businesses and reach 93% of the population

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation has published the provisional resolution of the call for 2020 of the New Generation Broadband Extension Program (PEBA-NGA), by which 653,157 households and companies will benefit from coverage so far without access to this technology. This programme, managed by the State Secretariat for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure, is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

After evaluating the 108 proposals received, it has been proposed to grant aid to 33 projects, aimed at 33 of the 45 provinces initially planned: Cádiz, Córdoba, Huelva, Sevilla, Asturias, Las Palmas, Cantabria, Ávila, Burgos, León, Palencia, Salamanca, Segovia, Soria, Valladolid, Zamora, Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara, Toledo, Girona, Lleida, Tarragona, Castellón, Valencia, Badajoz, A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense, Pontevedra, Navarra and La Rioja.

Work is underway on an upcoming partial call to develop broadband extension projects in provinces where no proposals have been submitted to meet the requirements.

The projects approved to different operators represent a total investment of 186 million euros with aid amounting to 105.77 million euros.

The aid is granted for the extension of ultra-fast broadband electronic communications networks in the so-called white zones: those without current coverage and which have no plans for deployment in the next three years. In addition, this year, as a novelty, it has also been possible to include aid for grey areas, those where there is a presence of a single operator that can provide services at speeds of more than 30 Mbps, but without exceeding 100 Mbps, for which the Government obtained the approval of the European Commission.

The extension of broadband to 100% of the population with a speed of at least 100 Mbps is a commitment of the Government included in the Spain Digital 2025 strategy. In order to achieve this objective, the Government is developing a “Plan for the Connectivity of People, Companies and Territories” that will serve to extend broadband to the most dispersed rural areas and also contribute to closing the territorial digital divide, addressing the demographic challenge and building a more inclusive and sustainable society and economy.

PEBA-NGA Program

The PEBA-NGA Program has been a fundamental instrument to turn Spain into the country with the largest fiber optic network in Europe, despite the difficulties presented by the orography and geographical population dispersion of our country.

According to data from the European Commission, fiber optic coverage to the home (FTTH) reaches 80.4% of the Spanish population, compared to the European average of 34%. In rural areas, the differential coverage in favor of Spain is equally relevant: on average, only 21% of European households have FTTH, compared to 46% in our country.

In the period 2013-2019 this Program has granted aid to 130 operators for the realization of 753 projects with an associated investment of 871.40 million euros and aid of 478.90 million euros. More than half of that amount was awarded in 2018 and 2019. In the call for 2019, 140.14 million euros were granted that have served to cover 705,974 households and companies in 12,760 Singular Population Entities (ESP). The 2020 call will cover 653,157 households and companies in 6,682 population entities.

When the projects end next year with aid granted in the previous calls, the ultra-fast speed coverage will have reached 91% of the Spanish population. With the projects approved in this call the coverage will reach 93%.

List of projects included in the draft resolution