He Government has announced a new aid package for the experimental development of 5G projectssuch as prototyping, testing and validation. This new call will consist of a amount of 15 million euros and will be aimed at 5G technology plans in the most important economic sectors in Spain.
The Official State Gazette (BOE) has published the call for aid from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation UNICO 5G Sectorial 2023 with the aim of financing projects that digitally transform strategic sectors for the countrysuch as the connected vehicle, the agri-food and the audiovisual, as reported by government sources this Friday.
The budget of the call is 10 million -expandable by 5 million more- financed by European funds within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. The grants are addressed to companies, research organizations and dissemination of knowledge and the deadline for submitting applications is extended until August 4.
680 to deploy 5G in rural areas
A few days ago, Spain received the green light from the European Commission to invest 680 million euros to deploy 5G in rural areas. The aid will be directed to Spanish areas with a population of less than 10,000 inhabitants that lack current or planned investments in 4G networks with download speeds of at least 50 megabits per second (Mbps).
The objective of the program is to guarantee users in “insufficiently served” areas a wide availability of high performance networks that provide “reliable, high-quality electronic communications access services that meet your current and future needs.”
Public support will take the form of direct subsidies to telecommunications operators and aid may be granted until December 31, 2025with the aim of making 5G mobile networks operational “at the latest in February 2026.”
