The S.E. Telecom and Digital Infrastructure presents the digital connectivity plans to face the demographic challenge

The Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures, Roberto Sánchez, visited Teruel today to present the Plan for Connectivity and digital infrastructures, as well as the Strategy to promote the development of 5G technology.

Both plans are part of the government’s strategy to face the Demographic Challenge and constitute two axes of Digital Spain 2025, the roadmap of digitalization in our country. They foresee an investment of 4.32 billion euros of public investment (883 million already foreseen in the Budgets for 2021) in five years and will also have funds from the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism.

The Connectivity Plan aims that 100% of the Spanish population will have ultra-fast broadband coverage (100 Mbps) by 2025, becoming a fundamental instrument of territorial cohesion. “This is a achievable objective, given the significant advances in coverage that have occurred in recent years,” said the Secretary of State, who has also made a brief review of the investments made in broadband extension in Aragon in recent years: more than seven million euros of aid since 2013, more than half in 2018 and 2019.

In addition, in the last call for applications of the Broadband Extension Program (PEBA-NGA), resolved on March 4, aid has been awarded for a greater amount than all the calls made so far: 11 million euros to extend broadband to more than 80,000 homes and companies in Aragon. In Teruel the aid is three and a half million and will reach 20,658 households and companies.

When the works that are awarded and in execution of the different calls of the Broadband Extension Program (PEBA-NGA) are finished, it is estimated that the coverage at 100 Mbps will reach 86.7% of the population in Huesca, 76% of the population in Teruel and 95.6% in Zaragoza.

To reach 100% coverage at 100 Mbps, the Plan for Connectivity and Digital Infrastructures has an investment of 2,320 million euros until 2025, 583 million in the General State Budgets of 2021.

The first Axis of the Plan includes measures to encourage the deployment of broadband in urban centers, depopulated areas, reference centers and assistance centers. The second Axis contains connectivity enhancement actions associated with business environments: industrial estates, logistics centers or business parks. The goal is for 100% of industrial estates to have a scalable connection to one gigabit per second by 2025, one of the goals of the European strategy “the Gigabit Society”. Enabling the digital transformation of the economy throughout the territory.

As far as SMEs are concerned, a programme will be launched to provide digital connectivity vouchers for small and medium-sized enterprises participating in public programmes to promote their digitisation.

Spain, Data Hub is the third axis of the Plan that includes measures to project our country as a pole of attraction for investments in data infrastructures and to become a cross-border connection point for the European Union.

Finally, the Plan includes two transversal axes, one related to the regulatory reform and public information systems (which includes the approval of the new general law of Telecommunications), and another to the renovation of telecommunications infrastructures in buildings, including measures to support energy efficiency.

The 5G Technology Boost Strategy has an estimated budget for the 2021-25 period of 2 billion euros, 300 million in 2021. The fifth generation of mobile technology allows hyper connectivity (permanent, high-capacity and high-speed connections between people and machines), so it has a great disruptive effect for the economy and can also serve as a vector for extending the coverage of high-speed networks.

The Strategy consists of three axes. The first includes actions to facilitate the availability of priority bands for 5G services. In this regard, Spain already auctioned in 2018 one of the priority frequency bands, the 3.5 GHz, which has boosted the first commercial offers of operators, and it is expected that the 700 MHz band will be auctioned in the coming weeks.

The second axis establishes measures to support the deployment of networks. The goals are to reach 75% of the Spanish population with 5G coverage, as well as uninterrupted 5G coverage on major roads, railways and unique points such as airports.

Likewise, the deployment of 5G infrastructures is part of a policy of territorial structuring and economic and social cohesion. Therefore, an aid instrument will be enabled that encourages the deployment of 5G infrastructures in those territories and corridors where a greater transforming effect is provided.

Finally, and given that 5G connectivity will allow companies to move towards greater productivity, the Strategy promotes the use of 5G in the sectoral digitization tractor projects identified in Spain digital 2025: agri-food, tourism, trade, health and automotive.

The third axis incorporates measures to create a regulatory and administrative framework that fosters an investment climate, such as the Cybersecurity Law, which must transpose into the Spanish legal system the instruments and measures (toolbox) that the Member States of the European Union agreed at the beginning of this year in order to mitigate security risks in 5G networks and create a safe and reliable environment that encourages deployment and encourages adoption.

Since 2013, when the New Generation Broadband Extension Program (PEBA-NGA) was launched, aid has been given in Aragon for more than seven million euros to extend broadband of 100 Mpbs, to 98,000 homes and companies. More than half of the grants were awarded in 2018 and 2019.

In addition, the latest call for the Broadband Extension Program, resolved at the beginning of March, has awarded aid in Aragon for more than 11 million euros to extend coverage to more than 80,000 homes and commercial premises in 292 unique entities of population