Madrid, April 12, 2024.- The Ministers of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, and for Digital Transformation and Public Function, José Luis Escrivá, have sent a letter to the leaders of all the local Spanish entities to request their collaboration in the deployment of telecommunications infrastructures.

The ministers recall the relevance of having excellent telecommunications networks to combat the digital divide between rural and urban areas, depopulation and boost the economy. Torres and Escrivá underline that the government is currently mobilizing more than 2.6 billion euros (2 billion euros of public investment) to deploy the state-of-the-art networks, so they request the “complicity and participation” of those responsible for local entities to “prioritize and speed up the procedures of pending permits”. The objective, the letter points out, is that the benefits of these infrastructures “reach all citizens” and thereby guarantee “social and territorial cohesion”.

In the letter they also remember that Spain has already managed to close the digital divide between rural and urban areas, allowing 100% of citizens to have ultra-fast fixed broadband connectivity (100 Mbps). In this regard, they stress that the UNICO Rural Demand program, through the Connect 35 project commissioned to Hispasat, offers a connection of 200 Mbps for 35 euros per month in areas where there is no high-speed commercial offer.

The ministers point out that, in addition to this program, there are two other plans underway to expand the coverage of fiber optic networks and 5G mobile networks, which can have a great impact on improving the connectivity of municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants.