The Government launches the 2nd call for UNICO Banda Ancha grants to extend the ultra-fast connection and promote territorial vertebration in Spain
16/06/2022
Endowed with 250 million euros, it will contribute to providing high-capacity broadband access to households and companies located mainly in remote and isolated areas.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, through the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures, has launched the second call for the Universalization of Digital Infrastructures for Cohesion (UNICO) Broadband program to expand the deployment of the necessary infrastructures that provide very high capacity coverage to the population.
These grants will allow the expansion of the ultra-fast broadband network, capable of providing services of at least 300 Mbps scalable to 1Gbps symmetrically, to households and companies located mainly in remote and isolated areas (identified as white and grey NGA) in the national territory.
This call for grants, such as the one published in August 2021, has a budget of 250 million euros and is intended to continue deploying the ultra-fast broadband network in Spain as a structuring tool within the framework of the Digital Spain Agenda of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.
The Digital Spain Agenda, a roadmap of the digital transformation process designed by the Government, has among its main objectives to ensure that 100% of the population has access to ultra-fast connection networks - of at least 100 Mbps - by the end of 2025.
Qualified telecommunications operators can submit their applications from today until July 18 for the areas identified as eligible and published in the help portal from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation. Each of the concurrence zones includes minimum coverage targets in real estate units (households and companies).
Program UNIQUE
The Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan was put in place in 2021 the Universalization of Infrastructures for Cohesion (UNICO) program, to expand the broadband connection in the Spanish territory, boost 5G technology and promote the R&Din 5G Advanced and 6G technologies.
The programme UNIQUEBroadband continues the work begun in 2013 with the New Generation Broadband Extension Program (PEBA), which has helped to place Spain among the leading countries in the world. EU in the deployment of high-capacity networks with better connectivity.