The Government launches aid of 150 million to extend 5G to roads, railways and rural areas

The call does not include active equipment, the great demand of the sector

MADRID, 6 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation published this Monday the bases and first call for ÚNICO 5G, the program to extend 5G through rural areas, roads and railways that will give aid this year for 150 million euros.

The call is intended for companies that manage passive telecommunications infrastructure, that is, telecommunications towers, and subsidizes the construction and enabling of sites in rural areas without 4G mobile coverage with a minimum service of 10 Mbps, deployment on national and cross-border roads and railways. .

Likewise, dark fiber backhaul or, in justified cases, radio link, capable of housing active equipment corresponding to very high-speed public mobile communications networks, and civil works related to said infrastructures, will also be eligible for aid.

The call divides Spain into four areas, the first encompassing Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country and Castilla y León and has 52.5 million euros in aid, while for the second (Aragón, Cataluña, Comunidad Foral de Navarra and La Rioja) 33 million euros will be allocated.

The third zone includes the Community of Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura and the Canary Islands with 30 million euros in aid, while zone 4, with a budget of 34.5 million euros, includes Andalusia, the Valencian Community, the Region of Murcia, the Balearic Islands, Ceuta and Melilla.

The publication of the bases has started a calendar by which the passive telecommunications infrastructure companies (the telecommunications towers) will have 15 business days to present their proposals, as well as identify their reformable sites.

Companies may present an execution calendar for several years until December 31, 2024 in general, but allowing for justified exceptions or extensions to extend it by half a year.

The call, however, has left out the main claim of the sector: the subsidy of the active part, that is, the equipment used by telecommunications operators to provide telephone or connectivity services.

Tower companies have warned that, without these aids, the towers built may not attract operators, due to their low profitability. The Government has pressed in Brussels so that subsidizing these aspects is not considered state aid, as is the case with the current framework.

During the Mobile World Congress 2022, the Secretary of State for Telecommunications, Roberto Sánchez, was confident that the Executive would be able to summon aid for this part in the autumn, but there have been no further developments in this regard.