Lalín, February 23, 2023.- The subdelegate of the Government in Pontevedra, Maica Larriba, announced today that more than 4,000 companies in the province of Pontevedra have already been granted the bonus of the Digital Kit program launched by the Government and which is part of the Recovery Plan. In total, this figure represents an investment in the province of 21 million euros aimed at supporting the digitization of Pontevedra companies and small businesses.
Maica Larriba traveled this morning to Lalín, where she visited Vinos Manuel Gil, a family business selling wines and other gastronomic products that benefits from this initiative and which is managed in its fourth generation by the brothers Manuel, Ramón and Óscar Gil Mayán. The meeting was also attended by members of the local consultancy, Dhais, which manages the grants and the Lalinese digital marketing company, Kame Marketing, which will be in charge of executing the digitization project of Los vine Manuel Gil.
The deputy delegate highlighted during the visit the “important economic injection that these funds represent” and “the historical opportunity they offer to modernize our companies and make them more competitive.” However, both Larriba and the company’s managers agreed to ensure that digitalization “is a key aspect in business innovation and became a crucial factor for companies and small businesses to compete in today’s purchase.” The Digital Kit was also very well received in Lalín and the Deza region, as only the consultancy Dhais is managing about 150 bonds in the area.
Maica Larriba congratulated Vinos Manuel Gil for taking a new step towards its digitization by taking advantage of the Government’s aid and put the business as an example “of how a historical company that leads new and enterprising people, now faces the challenge of fully incorporating the digital world”. In this line he also valued the work of the dixitalizing agents “which are an essential piece between the entrepreneurs and the administration”.
Wines Manuel Gil were awarded 6,000 euros within the framework of the Digital Kit, for belonging to the range of between 3 and 9 workers. With these funds, they will update and optimize their website, improve online sales, develop a communication strategy in social networks and improve their brand image and digital positioning. Finally, the subdelegate of the Government stressed that the funds of the Recovery Plan “are already reaching all places, all municipalities and all companies between zero and 49 employees to help them both start and consolidate in the digital world.”
For this program the Government launched three calls: one of 12,000 euros for companies between 10 and less than 50 employees, open until March 15; another of 6,000 euros for companies between 3 and less than 10 employees that can be requested until September 2 and a third line of 2,000 euros for self-employed people with zero or less than three employees, open until October 20.
Single Broadband Plan
The subdelegate of the Government took advantage of the visit to Lalín to reaffirm “the firm commitment to the connectivity of the Government of Pedro Sánchez, which will allow the extension of the optical fiber so that before 2025 all the Galician rural has a connection to the high-speed internet network”. Thus, he reported that within the UNICO-Broadband Program of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, of the Recovery Plan, 2,116 homes and companies in Lalín will have a connection to fiber optics. “Due to its great rural extension, this is the municipality most benefited from the province in calls 1 and 2 of the Single Plan,” he explained.
The first call, of 2021, awarded by Telefónica, includes the provision of high-speed broadband to 2,024 homes/companies and connections must be executed before the end of 2023. The second call, from 2022, awarded to Avatel Telecom, includes 102 homes and companies in Lalín and must be completed before December 2024. “Each of the homes and companies included in the Single Plan come with its cadastral reference, which can be consulted on the Ministry’s website, therefore, if the City Council has proof of contemplated areas to which the fiber has not yet arrived, it must inform so that the company executes the connections,” explained the subdelegate.