The Official State Gazette has published the call for aid launched by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation to deploy the necessary equipment in 5G services in municipalities with less than 10,000 inhabitants. Through this call for UNICO 5G Active Networks, the Government continues to bet on digitally structuring Spain, now universalizing the mobile connectivity of this disruptive technology also in population centers of smaller size than large cities.
This aid program, financed with the European funds Next Generation EU within the framework of the Recovery Plan and the agenda España Digital 2026, represents an investment of 7.1 million euros for the provision of necessary active, passive equipment and, where appropriate, additional infrastructure such as “backhaul” that facilitate the deployment of 5G in the Cantabrian municipalities of less than 10,000 inhabitants.
These resources are in addition to the nine million euros awarded by the Ministry – with the resolution of UNICO 5G Backhaul – to several operators to provide optical fiber to the mobile towers existing in Cantabrian municipalities of less than 5,000 inhabitants, helping to avoid the appearance of a territorial gap in the implementation of this technology by favoring its deployment in smaller municipalities.
The Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures, María González Veracruz, has stressed that with this “pioneering program in Europe, the Government continues to promote the deployment of this technology that opens new possibilities for the economic and social development of the country, deepening the strategy of promoting territorial cohesion and generating opportunities and quality employment.”
“Once we have closed the digital gap in fixed connectivity and we lead in Europe the deployment of fiber as pointed out in the Digital Decade Report, in Spain we will continue to be at the forefront also in this technology, which changes the paradigm of the mobile and generates a great opportunity in the Internet of things, so that it reaches all the provinces”.
Due to its very high capacity and low latency characteristics, 5G opens up new possibilities for the industrial and social transformation of Spain. This call for grants in competitive competition is aimed at operators who provide 5G service to provide in rural areas active equipment, passive and infrastructures that develop this technology in municipalities of less than 10,000 inhabitants in which there is no 4G mobile coverage of at least 50 Mbps in the downward direction, and it is not foreseen in the next three years.
This means great possibilities to take advantage of 5G in activities carried out in small municipalities in different economic sectors such as agriculture, tourism or in improving the provision of public services. This guarantees the use and access to the latest technology applications and services, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality.
A paradigm shift that will allow in small municipalities, for example, the sensorization of different crops in the agri-food for the optimization of production, the development of tourist and cultural activities applying new realities, the improvement of public services with real-time operations or remote care for health emergencies or emergencies, as well as the precision for garbage collection or recycling with sensors in the containers to adapt it to the demand of use.
The rules governing the call specify that these subsidies may be used for the provision of necessary active, passive equipment and, where appropriate, additional infrastructure such as backhaul, masts or power reinforcement, necessary for the provision of 5G stand alone services, 5G with all its functionalities, technically built on a new network core independent of that of 4G technology, in addition to frequencies in pioneering 5G bands.
Applications to participate in the program can be submitted until October 31 at 1 p.m. in the electronic register of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation.
Accelerating 5G deployment
With the launch of this call, and the already resolved UNICO 5G Networks Backhaul program, to bring the optical fiber to the antennas, the Government adds more than 1,000 million euros invested throughout the territory to promote the deployment of 5G infrastructures, in collaboration with the private sector, in municipalities less than 10,000 inhabitants.
The grants included in this call are complementary to other actions that are being carried out under the umbrella of the UNICO program, which is being developed by the Government of Spain through the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures.
5G technology boost strategy
The strategy of promoting 5G technology whose main purpose is to lead the deployment of 5G in Europe is one of the axes of the Digital Spain Agenda. The intention of the Government is that the country should have this disruptive technology to be able to develop the capacities that 5G will allow as an economic and social transforming element.
With this objective, programs covering all phases of development of these new mobile communication technologies in Spain have been launched. The support programmes covering the deployment of infrastructures (UNICO 5G Backhaul and UNICO 5G ACTIVA), the development of pilot projects – by means of Red.es – and use cases, the integration of technology in industrial value chains (UNICO 5G Sectorial) and basic research and innovation in the next technological generations (UNICO R+D 5G advanced and 6G).
Spain has been one of the first countries in the European Union to have completed the allocation of the entire 5G spectrum, in addition to having dedicated 450 MHz for self-provision and industrial use. Spectrum limits have also been increased to allow operators to better manage traffic increases.