Hita (Guadalajara) (EFE).- The Minister of Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, has announced that the digital divide is closed in Spain.
This is thanks to the ‘Rural Demand. Conéctate35’, which aims to provide all citizens with access to the Internet at an affordable price.
“With this program we close the digital gap in our country”, the minister celebrated in the presentation of the program financed with European funds.
The event took place in Hita (Guadalajara) and was attended by the President of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García Page.
Same internet rights in towns and cities
This initiative, developed by Hispasat, a communications satellite operator, will allow access to “affordable” broadband for 35 euros per month, according to Calviño.
The minister has asserted that this program, already operational, makes it possible to affirm “absolutely” that Spain has closed the digital divide:
“In rural areas, they will have the same rights as in cities. Its citizens will be able to develop their vital and professional projects by accessing digital connectivity”, he stated.
As he pointed out, the project has connectivity capacity throughout the sparsely populated or remote territory with the implementation of a high-speed satellite model.
It will serve, he has predicted, as an example in the rest of the world, especially in Latin America.
Internet: “essential” to attract investment
For his part, the president of Castilla-La Mancha has indicated that “any company that wants to come, which is essential to have access to the network, can do so.”
“When I took office, only four industrial estates in the region had access to fiber optics and before the end of this legislature all the estates will be well connected,” García-Page congratulated himself.
He has also defended that the Internet “used well” is a determining instrument to achieve equality.
In this sense, he has claimed that being connected equals rights “for those who live in Madrid, here or in Jerez de la Frontera”.
And he has proposed that, in the future, Internet access be a public right that can be claimed in court.
High speed for 35 euros per month
The UNICO Rural Demand program (Universalization of Digital Infrastructures for Cohesion-Rural Demand) is an action that is part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience plan of the Spanish economy.
It is financed by European Next Generation funds and with funds from the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism.
The objective is to give the possibility of contracting a connection of at least 100Mbps download at an affordable price of 35 euros per month, without additional expenses.
It offers coverage of 100 percent of the population, through regulation and the call for subsidies aimed at providing it in the period 2023 to 2027 to citizens and companies located in areas where coverage with terrestrial technology (fixed or mobile) does not yet exist. ) of at least 100 Mbps.EFE