Broadband in Barcelona: reality and trends

In this article we analyse Barcelona’s broadband. To start with, maybe you are asking yourself: what is broadband? So, we want to start answering this question, thus you can understand better the article, in collaboration with Inés Rey de Olano (Pompeu Fabra University).

Broadband is a high-speed connection to the internet. Before broadband exists, internet access was achieved with ‘narrowband’ up connections that were very slow by today’s standards. Broadband is quicker and allows us to do more on the internet

An internet service provider (ISP) supplies the service and equipment to get your home or business online. Rottenly, ISPSs operate their own infrastructure, but this is a complex and expensive endeavour so most pay for wholesale access to a network which they can then resell. Mostly the broadband services come into your home with a fixed-line, like a telephone line or Virgin Media network connection.

However, broadband service does not always require a fixed line. There is also mobile broadband using mobile phone networks, satellite internet (which connects to orbiting relays) and wireless broadband providers using Wi-Fi transmissions.

Secondly, we would like to introduce briefly some concepts to have into account when we talk about the availability of Broadband in Barcelona. In order to have a better idea of this, we want to explain it with the following maps below, which show all the exchanges in a 5 miles radius of a central point in Barcelona indicating which exchanges are configured to provide fibre broadband. There are 4 exchanges in a 5-mile radius of Barcelona and currently 4 of these exchanges are fibre enabled.

For homes within a 5-mile radius of Barcelona there is good news when it comes to fibre broadband availability: fibre broadband is now available to them. Exchanges in the area, which are owned and maintained by Openreach, have been fibre broadband enabled and as a consequence broadband providers who are reliant on Openreach’s broadband network infrastructure (BT, Plusnet, Sky, TalkTalk, etc.) will be able to provide fibre broadband to homes within a 5 mile radius of Barcelona. However, unfortunately there are also bad news, even though Virgin Media’s fibre broadband network coverage is growing on a daily basis currently its fibre broadband network does not extend to homes within a 5-mile radius of Barcelona and as a consequence for Virgin Media client’s fibre broadband is not available in Barcelona. Therefore, the maximum speed available within a 5-mile radius of Barcelona is 67 Mbps.

Nonetheless, we have to have into account that there are mitigating circumstances where you might not be able to get fibre broadband even if the local exchange is fibre broadband enabled. And also, it’s important to know that if you don’t have a need for speed then ADSL broadband is available in Barcelona with its maximum average speed of 11Mbps.

We would like now to talk about the last year’s news of broadband in Barcelona, Catalonia or Spain. That are much related with the history of broadband in the latest years. Broadband made a big impact in society, and that impact was gradually experienced by society. Therefore, it’s very interesting to know the history and evolution of broadband in our country and our city. 

In May of 2007, the internet access through broadband in Catalonia arrived to the 95% of the population thanks to the implement of a technology named WiMAX. 

In February of 2017, Fibre optic and cable had more of a half million of lines in ADSL. In which Movistar, Orange and Vodafone concentrated the 95% of fixed broadband and an 85% in mobile lines. 

By this stage broadband was very extended and developed, but not everywhere. The rural zones were the less developed than the cities. That’s why in March of 2018, the Spanish government allocated 525 million euros to extend broadband to all municipalities. This plan is still running, and it is predicted that in 2021 all the municipalities in Spain will have broadband, with none exception.

Moreover, in April of 2019, the 86’6% of the Catalans had internet access through broadband with more than100 Mbps. This speed allows to have a lot of devices connected at the same time at home. In fact, one study realized by the “Ministerio de Economía y Empresa” of Spain proves that in this year, 2020, there is going to be the up to 92’3% of population who have an internet connection with more of 100 Mbps.

Another important fact for Broadband in Spain was in September of 2019, when the European Commission allows 400 million euros to improve the connectivity between the consumers and enterprises in zones where the private inversion is not enough. So, they wanted to create a broadband network of a high speed, providing speeds of load and download of 300 megabits per second (Mbps). And this broadband high-speed network is going to be stablished between this year and 2022.

As you can see, the broadband connectivity is increasing very fast and it has led to a big change in the society. Technology is increasing and every year, more technology it’s discovered due to increase the human life. Broadband has a lot of strength, that’s why there are also some regulations. In Spain, the “Secretaría de Estado para el Avance Digital” (SEAD), have a legislation in which they control the instruments and procedures of coordination between different public Administration, related with the public economic helps focused in improving the society of the information with broadband. These rules are registered in the 9/2014 of the 9 of May of General Telecommunications and in the second article of the Royal Decree 462/2015, from the 5^th of June.

Broadband has influenced a lot in society, both in daily life and in the work life. Nowadays, we cannot imagine nor understand life without broadband. Broadband is one of the essences of the technological and communicational system, although it sometimes goes unnoticed. Thanks to broadband we can have a very easily and cheap internet access and this has provoked a change of mentality of society due to all the consequences that means internet in all our lives. However, broadband not only affects to individuals, but it affects to every job. Furthermore, there are some jobs in which broadband has completely transformed the industry. This is the case of journalism.

Journalism with broadband has changed completely, starting with the digitalization of the journals that increased a lot the number of readers, and also with the multimedia instauration. The internet, the sound, the images, the hypertexts, the movement, the videos, the interactivity… have attracted a lot of audience.

If it wasn't for broadband, there would be a big part of the actual audience that wouldn't be reported. Broadband has greatly inquisitor information and it has allowed many more people to access this information. Broadband has, as a consequence, strengthened the right to be informed.

Broadband has also allowed citizens to be the issuer and source of information. Which has led to citizen journalism. As a result, there is now a steady flow of informational content, which has meant the phenomenon called cloud journalism. Broadband has therefore allowed citizen participation in information.

In conclusion, Broadband is a very complex technological system, which is increasingly developing in the world, in Spain, in Catalonia and in Barcelona. Broadband is an intrinsic contributor to improving the lives of citizens in our society.
We analyze broadband and HbbTV evolution (here, the case of Barcelona) 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 XXV Cable and Broadband Catalonia Congress (31 March-1 April 2020, Barcelona).