Madrid, September 17, 2024.- The Government of Spain has published on the website of the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Service the list of operators operating in each Autonomous Community as collaborators of the UNICO Bono Social program. This bonus is aimed at helping families in vulnerable economic situations with a discount on the ultra-fast broadband internet connection fee.
For its execution, the Government of Spain has provided the program with a total of 30 million euros, which is transferred to the Autonomous Communities to manage the processing of this Social Bond through their systems, procedures and elements for the allocation, verification and control of aid, as well as the criteria to qualify a person as a member of vulnerable groups. In any case, all persons who have recognized the status of beneficiary of the Minimum Vital Income will automatically be qualified as members of the vulnerable groups for the exclusive purposes of this aid program.
The program has a maximum of 125,000 concessions of connectivity bonds for vulnerable groups and the deadline to receive them extends until December 31, 2024. Each digital voucher will have a maximum amount of 240 euros to be distributed in 12 monthly instalments in such a way that a monthly deduction of up to 20 euros will be applied in the final amount of the invoice, VAT not included, issued by the corresponding collaborating operator.
This investment is part of the UNICO family of programs to promote the universality of connectivity in Spain, and is part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan of the Government of Spain, funded by the European Union through the NextGenerationEU Funds. The Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures, María González Veracruz, stressed the importance of facilitating access to ultra-fast broadband “because access to the Internet is already a key issue for equal employment and social opportunities, and we promote this measure so that nobody is left behind in this digital present and future because they are in a situation of economic vulnerability”.
González Veracruz has also claimed the investments and policies implemented by the Government, stating that “Spain leads in Europe connectivity in fiber optics, wherever you live you can already connect to ultra-fast broadband by fiber or by satellite, and the fact that more than 92.5% of connected homes have speeds of up to 1 Gbps is evidence that the country is moving towards total digitization, which is placing us as a relevant country in the global technological field”.