The Broadband Extension Program will expand coverage to more than 650,000 homes and businesses and will reach 93% of the population

• The grants, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), will support the digital connectivity of the entire territory through the deployment of broadband in 33 provinces, with a total investment of 186 million euros and aid for an amount of 105, 77 million euros
• With the projects committed to in this call, 93% coverage will be achieved throughout the territory, advancing towards the objective of the Spain Digital 2025 agenda of reaching 100% broadband population coverage at speeds of at least 100 Mbps
• In order to reinforce coverage in rural or less populated areas, the 2020 call incorporates certain innovations aimed at mobilizing public and private investment in gray areas

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation has published the provisional resolution of the 2020 call for the New Generation Broadband Extension Program (PEBA-NGA), by which 653,157 households and companies without access to this technology will benefit from coverage so far. This program, managed by the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures, is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

After evaluating the 108 proposals received, it has been proposed to grant aid to 33 projects, aimed at 33 of the 45 provinces initially planned: Cádiz, Córdoba, Huelva, Seville, Asturias, Las Palmas, Cantabria, Ávila, Burgos, León, Palencia, Salamanca, Segovia, Soria, Valladolid, Zamora, Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara, Toledo, Girona, Lleida, Tarragona, Castellón, Valencia, Badajoz, A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense, Pontevedra, Navarra and La Rioja.

Work is underway on a forthcoming partial call to develop broadband extension projects in the provinces where no proposals have been submitted that meet the established requirements.

The projects approved to different operators represent a total investment of 186 million euros with aid amounting to 105.77 million euros.

The aid is granted for the extension of ultra-fast broadband electronic communications networks in the so-called white areas: those without current coverage and that have no deployment forecasts in the next three years. In addition, this year, as a novelty, it has also been possible to include aid for gray areas, those where there is a single operator that can provide services at speeds of more than 30 Mbps, but without exceeding 100 Mbps, for which the Government obtained approval from the European Commission.

The extension of broadband to 100% of the population with a speed of at least 100 Mbps is a commitment of the Government included in the Digital Spain 2025 strategy. In order to achieve this objective, the Government is preparing a “Plan for the Connectivity of people, companies and territories ”that serves to extend broadband to the most dispersed rural areas and also contributes to closing the territorial digital divide, facing the demographic challenge and building a more inclusive and sustainable society and economy.

PEBA-NGA Program

The PEBA-NGA Program has been a fundamental instrument to turn Spain into the country with the most extensive fiber optic network in Europe, despite the difficulties posed by the orography and the geographic population dispersion of our country.

According to data from the European Commission, fiber optic coverage to the home (FTTH) reaches 80.4% of the Spanish population, compared to the European average of 34%. In rural areas, the coverage differential in favor of Spain is equally relevant: on average, only 21% of European households have FTTH, compared to 46% in our country.

In the 2013-2019 period, this Program has granted aid to 130 operators to carry out 753 projects with an associated investment of 871.40 million euros and aid of 478.90 million euros. More than half of this amount was granted in 2018 and 2019. In the 2019 call, 140.14 million euros were awarded, which have served to cover 705,974 homes and companies in 12,760 Singular Population Entities (ESP). The 2020 call will cover 653,157 households and companies in 6,682 population entities.

When the projects with aid granted in the previous calls are completed next year, the ultra-fast speed coverage will have reached 91% of the Spanish population. With the projects approved in this call, coverage will reach 93%.

List of projects included in the provisional resolution

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