86.3% of the population in Andalusia has access to 5G through different technological solutions, while the 4G coverage rate reaches practically 100% of the population (99.94%), thanks to the investments in fixed and mobile technology promoted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation to eliminate the connectivity gap between urban and rural areas, whose evolution since June 30, 2022 can be consulted in the Broadband Coverage Report 2022.
Among the objectives of the Digital Spain agenda, it stands out to achieve coverage in 5G mobile networks of 75% of the population by 2025. In the last year, the impulse to 5G has been noticed in the priority bands (New Radio), placing the coverage in Andalusia at 58.68%.
The study’s figures show that the connectivity gap between urban and rural areas in Spain continues to shrink considerably thanks to public support for the deployment of ultra-fast fixed network infrastructures, especially in rural areas.
In recent years, the gap (the difference between coverage in rural and total areas) has been reduced by more than half, from 42 percentage points in 2018 to only 18 in 2022, bringing closer the goal of closing the digital divide completely by 2025.
As of June 2022, 90% of homes had access to networks of at least 100 Mbps. In rural areas, the percentage stood at 72%.
Since 2018, the government has granted 900 million euros in public aid that has mobilized 1,508 million public-private investment to cover 4.7 million homes with ultra-fast broadband networks.
The deployment of fiber optics has accelerated significantly in the last two years thanks to the impetus of the Next Generation EU funds and the Recovery Plan. Between 2021 and 2022, the government granted 494 million euros in subsidies to operators for the deployment of ultra-fast broadband networks of at least 100 Mbps.
Thanks to these investments, it is expected to be possible to guarantee an ultra-fast broadband connection throughout the national territory, providing coverage to 100% of the population in the year 2025.
New indicators: connections to 1 Gbps
In line with the goals set in the EU to move towards the European Gigabit Society and its universalization by 2030, this edition of the report for the first time incorporates data on coverage at a rate of at least 1 Gigabit per hour of discharge (downstream).
Nationwide, 85% of Spanish households had access to broadband networks at a download rate of 1 Gigabit in June 2022. In rural areas, the rate was 64%.
Methodology
This novelty is added to the one introduced in the previous edition that for the first time used a methodology that took as a reference the cadastral plot (streets and portals) instead of the singular entity of population, given the high levels of coverage achieved and the need to have data with greater granularity. This change allows a more precise identification of those areas that do not have broadband network coverage and therefore may be able to receive support for their deployment.
The methodology used since the 2021 report uses georeferenced data is a recommendation of the Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications – ORECE- (BEREC).
For the preparation of the report, the data of the January 2022 cadastre has been taken as a source of information, and not the estimates of the INE as it has been carried out until now. This has favored a more accurate approximation with respect to housing in Spain, which exceeds 26 million.