Broadband in Catalunya: the gap in rural areas

Broadband is increasing in all European countries; this is also the case of Catalunya. Broadband Society axioms are the universalizations of the service and a guaranteed broadband flow. But, is this broadband network available at the same level in urban and rural areas? We analyze it with Ariadna Coll, from Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF).

One of the latest broadband news that Catalunya received was on September 19 of 2018, published by El Periódico. “Catalunya tightens the accelerator in the ultrafast internet access”. With this title El Periódico explains that Catalunya has stood out in the last years in comparison to other autonomous communities.

Multiple programs dedicated to the development of technological infrastructures, improvement of cyber security, promotion of a new digital administration, the development of industry 4.0 or the improvement of connectivity throughout the territory are some of the aspects Catalunya has opted for in order to advance.

Some interesting data to take into account when talking about internet access are the following: according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE) the volume of small and big enterprises that had an internet connection and website during 2016-2017 has increased up to 85.2%. When referring to the Catalan population, nearly all of the population has a mobile phone at home (96.9%) and 83.7% of them with internet access.

Speed is also very important when talking about internet. According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), in 2017 the percentage of homes with broadband connection in Catalunya continued to increase, in this case, 0.6 points in comparison to 2016 and stood at 82.9%. Some aspects that stand out and are necessary to take into consideration are the improvements of the services offered by telecommunication companies such as Telefonica (which has enabled optical fiber of 600 MB to more than 260,000 Movistar clients in Catalunya). These clients are divided: 222.500 of them are in Barcelona, 16.300 are located in Girona, 13.500 in Tarragona and 7.700 in the province of Lleida.
Eleven years after the start of the commercialization of this type of ultrafast broadband connections, which started in 2008, a huge change has been experienced. The Telefonica’s fiber speed has gone from the initial 30 Mbps to 600Mbps offered since last April, when the free duplication of speeds began and allowed customers to go from 300Mbps to 600Mbps. Also, in April, customers that had the modality of 50Mbps had also the duplication to 100Mbps. In all cases, we are talking about symmetrical fiber, meaning the same speed of both, upload and download.

Catalunya has various companies with headquarters in the Catalan country, here some examples: Guifi.net, Icatel, Xarxa Oberta de Catalunya and Girona Fibra among many others. But, to understand broadband in Catalunya it is necessary to see how it has evolved during the last years.

In May 2017 El Periodico published an article entitled the following way: “Only 15% of the Catalan municipalities have fibre optics”. The real broadband coverage at that time worried the Catalan population. It is true that 92% of the habitants had this service but when we talk about territory, the percentage falls directly. In 2017 only 15% of the municipalities had it. The law of telecommunications states that broadband “universal service” is 2Mbps. But, when we talk about real broadband coverage we are talking about ADSL of more than 30Mbps or optical fiber of more than 100 Mbps.

This data was recollected from the Ministerio de Industria in 2018, prepared with data of all operators of the market. It is necessary to highlight what this information means. There are 947 Catalan municipalities from which only 95 have a optical fiber coverage of at least 90% despite Telefonica promising things would change and in a limit of 5 years this percentage would pass to a 100%.

It is true that in the majority of urban areas this coverage is better, but there are still populated areas where the fixed data connection is very scarce or even inexistent. In 2017, 1.5 million Catalans did not have access to broadband.

Figure 1: El Periódico

In 2003 the service of Broadband Network (BAR) began. The deployment of an internet access network using radio technology (WiMAX) is what gives the name to what we now call BAR. This contract, but, had a caducity date: October 2018, because the technology after 15 years has undergone huge changes. This is why the network requires the development of new techniques. With these improvements, the idea was that Broadband coverage would expand up to 25% meaning that this service would reach 99% of the population, as La Vanguardia published.

In January of last year, 2018, the Generalitat of Catalunya published the following: “The Generalitat of Catalunya will guarantee the continuity of the service of the Rural Broadband Network (BAR) in the territory through a solution linked to 3G and 4G mobile networks”. At that time there were still 10.000 assets that were active so they reached an agreement, which is using a new service called Accés Fix Radio (AFR). This service will count with a speed up to 20Mbps and the price is of 23€ a month until the 31st of December and from that date on, of 41.60€.

This article published by the Generalitat of Catalunya also announced the 54 actions to improve 3G and 4G coverage. These actions are based on 25 centres that will change from 2G to 3G, 9 reflex equipment will be installed in other new locations and new 4G equipment to 3.5GHz will be installed in 20 new locations.

So, as commented before, 91% of the territory will be covered thanks to these actions, which is equivalent to 99% of the population.

Figure 2: Mobile Coverage Map – Generalitat de Catalunya

Here is when the question appears. Why does internet still not reach rural areas?  Internet at high speed has become a phenomenon widespread in the recent years in Europe. But, no all areas or countries have the same internet connection. The lack of interest of the large telecommunications companies and the limited monitoring of some public administrations, keeps large rural areas in the queue of accessibility, as La Vanguardia states.

Currently, accessing to internet connection is indispensable, whether you are in an urban or rural area. Tourism has been involved in promoting this idea. The first thing people ask when going in a hotel is for Wi-Fi. When someone goes to a bar to work the first think to ask for is Wi-Fi, too. Without internet, nowadays, you cannot go anywhere. The more evolved the technology is, more necessary if for the Internet network to get better and cover each corner of the globe.

To make a comparison of ADSL ≥ 2Mbps in two rural areas (Tortellà and Sant Feliu Buixalleu) and two urban ones (Cassà and Salt), all in the province of Girona, the website of the Gobierno de España will be used.

To start with, it is necessary to talk a little about each. Tortellà has 781 habitants, Sant Feliu de Buixalleu 799. Salt has 29404 and Cassà 10025. From these municipalities, the one that is more rural is Sant Feliu de Buixalleu, and we can see it reflected in the Mbps. The following graph is distributed the following way: from less habitant to more.

 

So, from this graph we can extract significant conclusions. It is at the eyes of everyone that the two rural municipalities have less Mbps (Tortellà 60≤x<70 and Sant Feliu de Buixalleu 30≤x<40, this last one even less than the first, even though there is more population). When referring to the urban ones, they have the same Mbps, 90≤x≤100, even though the population of Cassà is 34% less than the one in Salt.

The difficulties to have a good internet connection in rural areas not only have affected people who live there but all levels of population. This can contribute to have a bad perception of the rural environment and business initiatives in these areas can decrease. Another element to take into consideration, which is an obstacle, is the “white zones".
We analyze broadband evolution (here, the rural Catalan case) in this blog, in Research Group about Digital Journalism and Marketing and Broadband and in Research Group on Innovative Monetization Systems of Digital Journalism, Marketing and Tourism (SIMPED), from CECABLE,  Escola Universitària Mediterrani of UdG, UPF and Blanquerna-URL, in Twitter (@CECABLEresearch), Google+, in the group of LinkedIn, in the page of LinkedIn, in the group of Facebook, in Instagram (CECABLE), in Pinterest and in this blog. We will go in deep in the XXIV Cable and Broadband Catalonia Congress (9-10 April 2019, Barcelona).