The Government finalizes the aid with which 5G will be deployed in rural municipalities

• It has published the order of bases of this pioneering aid in Europe that guarantees the deployment of 5G in Spain, starting with the municipalities of less than 10,000 inhabitants to prevent a territorial gap • The aid is aimed at operators who provide 5G service to provide active, passive equipment and infrastructures in rural areas to develop this technology • This aid has a budget of more than 500 million euros and is framed in the investments of the Spain Digital 2026 agenda of the Recovery Plan

June 26, 2023.- The Official State Gazette has published the order of bases for the call for 5G Active Networks grants of the UNICO program, which will have a budget of more than 500 million euros to deploy in municipalities of less than 10,000 inhabitants the necessary equipment in 5G services.

The Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures, María González Veracruz, has reported that they are pioneering aids in Europe with which the Government of Spain wants to avoid the appearance of a territorial gap in the implementation of 5G. They pursue the objective of guaranteeing territorial cohesion through universal connectivity in Spain to this technology that will mark all kinds of economic and social trends in the coming years.

5G Active Networks grants are part of the different UNICO programs being developed by the Government of Spain through the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures. This aid is providing equal opportunities in connectivity as a new right of citizens regardless of where they reside or carry out their economic activity.

To achieve the deployment of 5G in the rural area, this aid is aimed at operators with rights of use of frequencies in the 5G bands, to encourage them to deploy this technology also in smaller municipalities, and also UTEs among which are some operators with the required characteristics.

Among the different technical aspects included in the regulatory bases of this aid is the provision of necessary active, passive equipment and, where appropriate, the additional infrastructure such as “backhaul”, reinforcement of masts or energy, necessary for the provision of 5G stand alone services.

All these measures will allow the citizens of these rural environments to deepen the digital transformation of economic sectors such as agriculture, rural tourism, the surveillance of critical infrastructures such as dams and power plants, telemedicine or tele-education, etc.

In the evaluation criteria, it assesses the amount of population covered and the kilometers of road, as well as the construction of new sites. In addition, projects must be completed by 30 June 2025.