sábado, 23 de marzo de 2019

The broadband and tourism in Girona


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 UdGUPF 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).





51 comentarios:

  1. Interesante, 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.

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  2. Moltes felicitats! Cada dia et superes més Doctor Fondevila!

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  3. Un 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.

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  4. Article que demostra la importància que té en aquests temps la banda ample i més en una ciutat tan turística com ho és Girona.

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  5. Es 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

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  6. Un 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.

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  7. Molt bon article doctor! et felicito per la teva opinió sobre la importancia de la banda ampla en l’àmbit internacional.

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  8. Felicitats per l’article Joan Francesc, molt d’acord amb les idees que exposa sobre la connexió de banda ampla.

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  9. Un gran article que ens mostra la importància de la banda ampla per obtenir informació i facilitar la connexió entre països.

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  10. Molt 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.

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  11. El felicitó per l’article doctor! Dóna una bona visió de l’important que són les connexions de banda ampla per intercanviar informació internacionalment.

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  12. Molt bon article, mostra perfectament la importància de la banda ampla en aquests temps

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  13. Te felicito por el articulo refleja a la perfección la banda ancha!

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  14. Muy buen articulo definitivamente la importancia de la banda ancha es enorme!

    Enhorabuena Dr Fondevila!

    - Juan Escorcia.

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  15. Articulo 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.

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  16. Una 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!

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  17. Muy 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.

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  18. Interesante 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

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  19. Un articulo muy bien explicado y interesante, queda reflejada la importancia y lo que supone hoy en día la banda ancha. Enhorabuena!!

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