International Circuit

Spanish Govt. To Bring Fibre To 1.5 Million More People In Underserved Areas

February 25, 2020

The Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation has announced that it plans to significantly expand the number of areas eligible for broadband subsidies with a view to bringing fibre connections to 1.5 million more people in the country. In a statement, the ministry said it’s launching a public consultation on a proposal to include so-called ‘grey areas’ in its PEBA-NGA programme for 2020.

Government subsidies were previously limited to the installation of broadband services in ‘white areas’ located mainly in rural zones with low population density and lacking networks with speeds of at least 30 Mbps. ‘Grey’ NGA zones are those with only one operator currently providing broadband speeds of less than 100 Mbps or planning to do so within the next 3 years.

Spain already has the most extensive FTTH network in Europe, with more than 45 million homes passed and 91 percent of the population able to access fixed network speeds of at least 100 Mbps, rising to 94 percent with access to speeds of 30 Mbps and above.―Telecompaper