Abel Losada reviews with Telefónica the progress of the UN-Broadband Plan in the province, which already reaches more than 91% of the total

A total of 623,000 real estate units (homes plus companies) out of the 682,000 existing in the province of Pontevedra already have fiber optics thanks, in large part, to the state contributions through the Program of Universalization of Digital Infrastructures for Cohesion (UNICO) of Broadband. The subdelegate of the Government, Abel Losada, received the delegate of Telefónica for the northwest, Paula Rodríguez Beiran, to review the progress of broadband connectivity in the province.
In a meeting in which Ricardo Martínez, responsible for the deployment of fiber in the northern area, also participated telematically, it was found that more than 91% of the real estate units in the province already have connectivity, most through Telefónica. Telefónica was awarded the first call for the UNICO Plan, in 2021, in the province of Pontevedra. The company achieved a state subsidy of 3.58 million euros with the aim of connecting almost 18,000 units. This contract is finalized, but Telefónica continues with its own deployment plan and has another 12,000 connections in progress, which will raise the province’s broadband connectivity by another 1.5%.
In recent days, Abel Losada also met with the heads of the other two companies that are deploying fiber in the province and that were awarded the state calls for the province in the years 2022 and 2023. Specifically, Avatel, awardee of the UNICO 2022 (7.8 million euros of subsidy and objective of connecting 22,300 units) and Red Abierta, awardee of the UNICO 2023 with a subsidy of 7.68 million euros to hook another 18,100 real estate units. All this operation, promoted by the Government of Spain and financed with the funds of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR) of Spain, ends in December 2025.
Spain, leader of fiber optics in Europe
The ONE Plan was launched to ensure the arrival of 300 Mgps symmetric broadband services, scalable up to 1Gbps. This initiative of the Government of Spain, highlighted Abel Losada Losada, placed Spain as a leader in the deployment of optical fiber throughout Europe, both by number of connected homes and by the speed of the connection. He stressed that there are several studies that point to Spain as the second country in Europe both in connected real estate units and in average service speed.
Paula Rodríguez offered the Subdelegation all the collaboration of Telefónica to reach the less and less real estate units that the deployment of the network did not reach, either because of its distant situation, or because of lack of permits from the Administrations or owners. This respect, Abel Losada stressed that “Galicia, for its very high territorial dispersion and for its orography is a challenge”. Even so, he recalled that the Government of Spain guarantees that where it is not possible to arrive with fiber, the service will be guaranteed through the Hispasat satellite.
Abel Losada also reported that the Subdelegation of the Government sends quarterly to the municipalities the report prepared by the Ministry for Digital Transformation and the Public Service with the municipalities that take more than 120 days to process the authorizations for the distribution of optical fiber. The report seeks clarification of the causes of the delay. The subdelegate stressed that while there are municipalities that work very quickly and do not have any pending permits, “there are a few that do not do their part diligently.” “These few mayors recently went on to become champions of fiber, implying that they were the ones who brought it, and now, when the most difficult nuclei are to reach, they rush to protest, blaming the government that finances the installation.” Therefore, he called for more loyal collaboration, with everyone doing what he or she has to do, and less “contradictory populism.”