News
The country’s leadership in fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) coverage is attributed to government subsidy programmes
Spain continues to dominate the rest of Europe when it comes to fibre optic coverage, with the latest figures from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation showing that 80.4% of premises had been covered by June 2019.
This figure represents an increase of 3% of premises compared to last year’s stats.
Similarly, broadband speeds are increasing, with 94% of the Spanish population having access to broadband speeds of at least 30 Mbps, up 9% on the 2018 number. In fact, 83.6% of the population have access to 100 Mbps or better.
The Spanish FTTH rollout is reaching the point at which the simplest and most efficient deployments have been completed, leaving only harder-to-reach rural areas. However, the government’s subsidy strategy appears to be working, with 30 Mbps speeds available to 86.6% of rural residents living in areas of less than 100 inhabitants per square kilometre, up nearly a third on the previous year.
The Spanish government announced earlier this year that it was expanding the areas eligible for broadband subsidies, seeking to increase fibre availability for 1.5 million additional people in 2020.
As part of the government’s New Generation Broadband Extension Plan, it is projected that coverage will reach 91.24% of the Spanish population by the end of 2021, including over three quarters of the rural population.
Europe recently reached 50% coverage when it comes to FTTH, according to the FTTH Council Europe, with Spain pulling far more than its fair share. In contrast, FTTH coverage in the UK and Germany remains disappointing, with plenty of work left to be done.
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