The Government launches a public consultation on the new regulation of the universal telecommunications service

01/06/2022
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  • The standard should guarantee citizens access to affordable and adequate electronic communication services, as well as broadband Internet
  • It is part of the preliminary work for the regulatory development of the future General Law of Telecommunications, which was approved by the Senate in May and is about to finish its parliamentary procedure.
  • The updating of the universal service is one of the main novelties of the future Law, whose adoption is a milestone of the Recovery Plan, associated to the component "Connectivity, 5G and Cybersecurity"
  • The consultation will remain open until June 18 and can be consulted in this link.
    • The universal service update is one of the main novelties of the future General Law of Telecommunications, whose adoption is a milestone of the Recovery Plan, associated with the component "Connectivity, 5G and Cybersecurity".

    The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, through the SecThe State Department of Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures has launched the public consultation on the new regulation of the universal telecommunications service with which the preparatory work for the regulatory development of the future Law begins, recently approved in the Senate and which transposes the European Code of Electronic Communications to the Spanish legal framework.

    Among other developments, the future General Law on Telecommunications updates the concept and characteristics of the universal telecommunications service, maintaining the objective of providing affordable and adequate access to certain basic electronic communications services such as fixed telephone service and internet access.

    The standard also states that access to essential services in digital societies and economies such as email, basic online training tools; news, social networks or internet banking, must be guaranteed. The minimum broadband internet access speed is set at 10 Mbps and is expected to increase to 30 Mbps. In addition, the freedom of choice of the user is reinforced, who will be able to contract the social subscription to the operator he wants.

    The objective of this initiative is to update the current regulatory framework on the universal telecommunications service, dating from 2005, to the new Act in order to allow the designation of the operators responsible for its provision as soon as possible.

    This public consultation is part of the reform of the General Law of Telecommunications, foreseen in the Recovery Plan within the component of “Connectivity, 5G and Cybersecurity”, which foresees the investment of 4,000 million euros to extend connectivity to 100% of the population, promote the development of 5G and the cybersecurity ecosystem.