The Government requests collaboration from local entities to speed up the procedures for infrastructure and telecommunications networks

11/04/2024
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  • The Ministers of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, and for the Digital Transformation and Public Service, José Luis Escrivá, have sent a joint letter to those responsible for local entities throughout Spain
  • The government is mobilising 2.6 billion euros in the deployment of fixed broadband networks, satellite networks and mobile networks
  • Spain has eliminated the digital divide between rural and urban areas, with 100% of the population with ultra-fast broadband access thanks to the Connect 35 project

    • The Ministers of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, and for the Digital Transformation and Public Service, José Luis Escrivá, have sent a joint letter to those responsible for local entities throughout Spain. The government is mobilising 2.6 billion euros in the deployment of fixed broadband networks, satellite networks and mobile networks. Spain has eliminated the digital divide between rural and urban areas, with 100% of the population with ultra-fast broadband access thanks to the Connect 35 project.


    The Ministers of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, and for Digital Transformation and Public Service, José Luis Escrivá, have sent a letter to the heads of all the local Spanish entities to request their collaboration in the deployment of telecommunications infrastructures.

    The ministers recall the importance 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 of them from public investment) to deploy the latest generation networks, so they request the “complicity and participation” of those responsible for local entities to “prioritize and expedite 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 recall 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 emphasize 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 those areas where there is no high-speed commercial offer available.

    The ministers point out that, in addition to this program, two other plans are under way 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.

    See press release [PDF] [169.86 kB]