The Government launches a public consultation on the rules governing aid under the UNICO Bono SME programme

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, through the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure, has published a public consultation on the bases that regulate the aid program contemplated in the program UNIQUE-Bono SMEs, endowed with 50 million euros and financed with funds Next GenerationEU.

The aid of the programme UNIQUE-Bono SMEs They will be applied throughout the national territory and aim to improve the Internet connectivity of the SMEs Spanish and its internal communications to modernise and transform the Spanish productive fabric. This is one of the levers of the digitization axis of the Recovery Plan.

It is estimated that these bonus-small –of different size depending on the number of employees– can benefit more than 11,000 micro, small and medium-sized Spanish companies.

The program is structured around two bonuses: the contracting of 100 Mbps broadband internet access with a telecommunications operator; and the contracting of complementary services associated with connectivity such as professional WiFi, switchboard or virtual private network, etc. With an operator or a communications service provider.

The connectivity bonuses will be available for the SMEs where there is at least one network capable of providing the eligible services. The aid will be granted on the basis of an open, transparent and non-discriminatory selection procedure, which respects the principle of technological neutrality.

Program of Universalization of Digital Infrastructures for Cohesion (UNICO)

The Digital Infrastructure for Cohesion Universalization Program (UNICO) serves as a framework for different calls that will facilitate the universalization of ultra-fast broadband access and 5G extension. Achieving broadband coverage at 100 Mbps for 100% of the population is one of the objectives of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and the Digital Spain Agenda.

The first announcement of the Program UNIQUE-Broadband, resolved last December, granted aid worth 250 million euros, the largest allocation in the history of broadband programs. The winning projects will bring broadband to more than one million households and businesses in 4,500 municipalities.

Currently, Spain is already the third country in Europe with the best connectivity, with broadband coverage at 30Mbps of 95% (in rural areas 65%) and 87% at a speed of 100 Mbps.