Nowadays we live in the Broadband Society, in the
kingdom of information. This means that all the structure and social, economic,
political and culture relations are based in the implantation of new
technologies of information and communication (ICT). The municipalities receive
the advantages of broadband, like Girona with its tourism, analyzed with Clara Mendoza Sanz, from UPF.
Broadband takes an important place in this connected
world of the XXI century, and we can even talk about the concept of the
broadband society. Our generation is constantly looking for an instant access
to a wide variety of information and communication wherever we are: when we
travel, in the streets or at home. It has become our religion, like tourism. Tourism, broadband and social media, always together.
But, what does broadband mean? It’s a high-data-rate
connection to the Internet. This technology receives this name as the result of
the wide band of frequencies that is available for information transmission.
The standard BB technology (also known as wideband) in most areas is cable
Internet and asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL). Currently, we also have
very-high-bitrate DSL and optical fiber connections. In this article, we’ll be
analyzing how this phenomenon works in Girona city, from El Gironès, Catalunya.
The Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism published
the last report of broadband coverage in Spain in 2017. According to this, it
showed a continued progress in the country in the deployment of wideband
networks with access speeds greater than 100 Mps and in mobile broadband
coverage. The deal is that, even though the 78,7% of the population (27,1
million of persons between 16 and 74 years) have Internet access, the high price
of the broadband in our country doesn’t allow the access to everyone.
This is said by the annual report of the European Commission on the Information Society, which places Spain in the 22nd out of 28
positions in the fixed broadband price index. In the consumer price of wideband
(only that service) Spain is third position by the European tail, only exceeded
by the cost in Luxembourg and Ireland. Meanwhile, if one takes into account the
price of convergent packages, Spain’s position is even worse: second by the
tail, second only to Belgium. The cost of these services in Spain in the 30 to
100 Mbps section is 56 euros, when the average in Europe is 41 euros. The
countries with the lowest prices are Lithuania (13 euros) and France (23
euros).
Now, if we take a look into the latest global
classification by countries of the ICT Development Index with the publication
of the 2017 Report “Measuring the Information Society”, Spain ranks number 27.
According to this organization, our country has “competitive and welldeveloped” market with a high penetration rate, both mobile and fixed services,
and 3G and 4G coverage almost complete.
On the other hand, Catalunya is the third autonomouscommunity, after Madrid and the Basque Country, with a new generation of broadband
coverage, in particular 83,16% above the state average that’s 76%. Also, last
year, this Autonomous Community and Andalucía have been the communities where a
greater amount of public aid has been granted to projects for extensions of new
generation broadband to unprofitable areas. This is thanks to the New
Generation Broadband Extension Program (PEBA-NGA plan), which helped the access
to the networks of high speed broadband to a population of 6,27 millions of
inhabitants.
If we take a closer look to the Province of Girona, we
can see that in the last years the access of internet has improved a lot. We
have to have in mind that it’s the capital with less population of Catalonia
(98.255 inhabitants) and the biggest city of its province, because there are a
lot of rural zones. In Girona, 40% of
its population is covered with optical fiber of at least 100 Mbps. If the
cities like Figueres or Olot, the ones with a larger number of inhabitants of
the Province are taken away, the panorama changes a lot. In Girona, without
counting the capital, only 19,2% of the population have full fiber optic
coverage.
The Idescat published in 2017 the “ITC territorialstatistics in households” witch says that about 15% of citizens between 16 and
74 years of the Girona region do not use the Internet. The figures indicate
that the use of Internet in the counties of Girona has gone from being extended
in 79,9% of the population in 2015 to 85% in 2017. This increase of five points
from this two years was the highest in the country, but we continue below the
Catalan average (85,7%). It remains, above all, the Spanish average (84,6%) and
European (84%).
By counties, the rise of La Garrotxa stands out, which
was the second Girona region with the lowest user rate in 2015 and now it has
become the second one. The region with the lowest rate remains El Ripollès
(81,9%) and the highest, El Gironès (87,7%), where’s the capital.
In 2011 the project Anxanet was born from the union of
Megatró and Adqa groups, with the aim of improving Internet and telephony
services to companies and institutions. It’s heads, David Andreu and Albert
Batchellí, explained that its aim was to solve the deficits of broadband
coverage that existed in both industrial and population centers. In 2012, this
Catalan telecommunication operator with Girona capital has launched an aid plan
to facilitate a wideband Internet connection to all the companies in the Girona
region, known as “Girona conectada”. And tourism
In order to carry out this plan, Anxanet executed an
investment of 500.000€ in the counties of Girona, mainly implementing the
technological infrastructure. Likewise, and in a sector that is so important
for this region as it is the tourism, the demand for quality Wi-Fi connections
in tourist establishments becomes the second element to consider choosing
accommodation.
It’s necessary to add the fact that in some points of
the territory of the demarcation there’s not broadband enough to cover the
basic needs for the competitiveness of the businesses because they are far from
the interests of the big operators. Is especially remarkable the possibility of
enjoying a bandwidth of as many megabytes as necessary, both up and down, quite
unusual in ADSL. Also, the technology that Anxanet uses allows to reach the
maximum coverage in geographical areas where there is a limitation of flow, a
situation in which many industries and tourist establishments located outside
the urban nucleus.
Nowadays, it has become the real alternative to the
big operators. Anxanet already covers with virtual fiber optics almost all the
Girona counties and has about 400 companies and institutions that trust them.
In May of 2018, the political group Esquerra Republicana presented a motion at the plenary of the Diputació de Girona to
deploy the broadband in all the municipalities of the district. In November,
the Open Network of Catalonia of Optical Fiber, which already covers about 85
km in the Baix Empordà, extended to 19,3 km to provide services to smaller
municipalities. Some new connections were made in Begur, with an infrastructure
that, from the main branch of Palafrugell, will bring the broadband to the
neighbors of Escalanyà, Residencial Begur, the historical nucleus and Regincós.
In Girona and its tourism zones, like Costa Brava, we can also access for free to the Internet
thanks to the WiMAX technology. Since 2008, we have 4 base stations in
different counties that offer high-speed Internet in Sant Martí de Llémana
(Girona), Sant Joan les Fonts (Garrotxa), Torrent (Baix Empordà) and Rocagrossa
(La Selva). With these ones, we already have 40 base stations that offer
broadband internet.
Throughout Girona you can also access to free WiFi if
you sign up to Esp@is Internet. This allows you and the tourists to connect to the Internet for
free through a laptop, tablet or mobile phone, with a maximum of 30 sessions of
2 hours each, that is, 60 hours per month. If you are a user, you can also go
to different libraries around the city that provide computers with free access
to the Internet and enjoy 15 hours per month in one hour sessions.
In conclusion, Girona and its rural zones and tourism are adapting
to the new technologies to allow and improve the access to all the users around
the province. We analyze broadband evolution (here, the case of Girona)
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).
Nice!!!
ResponderEliminarThanks, Paqui!!!
EliminarInteressant article. Felicitats!
ResponderEliminarMoltes gràcies, Sergi!
EliminarInteresting analysis!
ResponderEliminarThanks, Daniel!
EliminarArticulo interesantísimo
ResponderEliminar¡Muchas gracias por tu comentario, Héctor!
EliminarInteresante, a través de la banda ancha podemos reclutar mucha información útil para nuestra empresa y así estar pendiente de lo que sucede en el mercado. Buen artículo.
ResponderEliminar¡Muchas gracias por tu comentario, Amanda!
EliminarMoltes felicitats! Cada dia et superes més Doctor Fondevila!
ResponderEliminarMoltes gràcies pel teu comentari, Aroa!
EliminarUn artículo muy interesante, ya que explica perfectamente como el broadband nos ayuda a conseguir información con mucha más facilidad, ya sea personal o para empresas; y también como facilita las conexiones entre distintos puntos del mundo, gracias a su high-data-rate connection.
ResponderEliminar¡Muchas gracias por tu comentario, Sneha!
EliminarUn article molt interesant
ResponderEliminarMoltes gràcies pel teu comentari, Enric!
EliminarArticle que demostra la importància que té en aquests temps la banda ample i més en una ciutat tan turística com ho és Girona.
ResponderEliminarMoltes gràcies pel teu comentari, Anna!
EliminarEs un artículo muy interesante, ya que es importante saber que gracias a la banda ancha nos ayuda a obtener más infomación y conseguir más facilidades. Grupo: Ana Danila, Ravneet Kaur, Esther Martí, Irene Díaz, Larissa Da Silva, Emma Vila, Susanna Maldonado
ResponderEliminar¡Muchas gracias por vuestro comentario!
EliminarUn article molt interessant Dr. Fondevila, avui en dia gràcies a la banda ampla podem obtenir molta informació que ens servirà per conèixer informació sobre el mercat en el que estem o volem entrar. Es per aixó que es tant important que estiguem tots connectats.
ResponderEliminarMoltes gràcies pel teu comentari, Júlia!
EliminarMoltes gràcies pel teu comentari, Júlia!
EliminarImpresionant un altre cop doctor!
ResponderEliminarMoltes gràcies pel teu comentari, Izan!
EliminarMolt bon article doctor! et felicito per la teva opinió sobre la importancia de la banda ampla en l’àmbit internacional.
ResponderEliminarMoltes gràcies pel teu comentari, Fabri!
EliminarFelicitats per l’article Joan Francesc, molt d’acord amb les idees que exposa sobre la connexió de banda ampla.
ResponderEliminarMoltes gràcies pel teu comentari, Ferran!
EliminarUn gran article que ens mostra la importància de la banda ampla per obtenir informació i facilitar la connexió entre països.
ResponderEliminarMoltes gràcies pel teu comentari, Sergi!
EliminarMolt interesant, sobretot el fet de que existeix la posibilitat de conectar-se a internet de manera gratuita a través de Esp@is Internet per tota la ciutat, ja que cada vegada Girona s'està convertint en una ciutat més turística per moments, i aquest és un punt molt atractiu. Felicitats, profesor.
ResponderEliminarMoltes gràcies pel teu comentari, Leia!
EliminarEl felicitó per l’article doctor! Dóna una bona visió de l’important que són les connexions de banda ampla per intercanviar informació internacionalment.
ResponderEliminarMoltes gràcies pel teu comentari, Gerard!
EliminarMolt bon article, mostra perfectament la importància de la banda ampla en aquests temps
ResponderEliminarMoltes gràcies pel teu comentari, Iveta!
EliminarTe felicito por el articulo refleja a la perfección la banda ancha!
ResponderEliminar¡Muchas gracias por tu comentario, Amparo!
EliminarMuy buen articulo definitivamente la importancia de la banda ancha es enorme!
ResponderEliminarEnhorabuena Dr Fondevila!
- Juan Escorcia.
¡Muchas gracias por tu comentario, Juan!
EliminarArticulo muy interesante que muestra la importancia de la banda ancha en una ciudad cada vez más turística como Girona que, a pesar de ser una de las provincias con menos habitantes, cada año incrementa el número de personas que usan internet.
ResponderEliminar¡Muchas gracias por tu comentario, Andrea!
EliminarUna muy buena explicación de lo que es el Broadband y las especificidades que se encuentran en la cuidad catalana de Girona. Me ha parecido muy interesante e instructivo. Enhorabuena!
ResponderEliminar¡Muchas gracias por tu comentario, Blanca!
EliminarMuy buena artículo, podemos ver como gracias a banda ancha tenemos una conexión de alta velocidad de datos a Internet. También, los municipios reciben las ventajas de la banda ancha, como Girona con su turismo. Hoy en día, se ha convertido en la alternativa real a los grandes operadores. A lo largo de Girona, también puedes acceder a WiFi gratis, esto le permite a usted y a los turistas conectarse a Internet de forma gratuita.
ResponderEliminar¡Muchas gracias por tu comentario, Jasdeep!
EliminarInteresante artículo!! Siempre va bien informarnos sobre lo que pasa a nuestro alrededor, sobretodo cuando pocos medios informan de esto. Muy importante el avance de la conexión a internet en Girona, que supondrá de seguro una mejora que el turismo sabrá valorar
ResponderEliminar¡Muchas gracias por tu comentario, Adri!
EliminarUn articulo muy bien explicado y interesante, queda reflejada la importancia y lo que supone hoy en día la banda ancha. Enhorabuena!!
ResponderEliminar¡Muchas gracias por tu comentario, Soukaina!
Eliminar