Broadband in Reus and the Baix Camp county: the city of the future

The digital era led us to something called The Broadband Society where we live in nowadays. The two main axes of this concept are universalization and the guarantee of the service, as stated by the Council of the European Union in the eEurope project (2002), in order to “make Europe the most competitive and dynamic economy in the world”. We analyze in this scenario Reus and Baix Camp cases, in collaboration with Sergi Peralta Moreno, from UPF.

However, there are a couple of professional areas where the Broadband Society has become even more than reality: it has become part of their backbone. The information and communication technologies are one of the fundamentals of the knowledge society in the XXI century. According to the European Commission, ITC is responsible for a substantial rise in productivity in all economic sectors. The Internet is fostering economic and social developments in the First World. Rafael Díez Vega states that “broadband networks are having an impact as revolutionary as electricity or railways had in the past”.

Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation described back in 2003 that the initial concept of broadband was firstly introduced in August 1989, during the Plenary Assembly of the CCITT (Consultative Committee for International Telegraphy and Telephony), nowadays known as the ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union). Experts defined that broadband services require channels with a higher capability than primary access (2,048 Mbit/s). When the broadband networks were introduced at first, they were considered a “true technological revolution” (Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología y Telecable, Redes de acceso de banda ancha: Arquitectura, Prestaciones, Servicios y Evolución, 2003).

According to the latest CNMC statistics (2017), Catalonia is the Autonomous Community with more broadband lines installed, with more than 2.750.000, followed by Madrid and Andalucía by a couple of hundreds of thousands. This places Catalonia as the leader in broadband technologies all over Spain.

Referring to the latest Idescat reports, in 2017, 82’9% of the population had access to broadband in Catalonia, meaning a little bit more than a 3% leap from two years prior. The trend seems to go up without deaccelerating because, as time goes on, mobile phones have become one of the main sources to access to Internet —96’9% of households with, at least, one family member aged between 16 and 74 years old have one or more mobile phone devices, as stated by the latest survey of the Statistical Institute of Catalonia—.

A technology first created with military uses has become essential in the current society. Since 2005, we are living with the so-called 4G (fourth generation) of mobile telephony, known as “a system of systems and a net of nets” that succeeds due to the combination of both physical cable and wireless technology (Análisis Tecno-Económico del Despliegue de Redes Móviles de Banda Ancha para Servicio de Seguridad Pública i Emergencias, Javier Carretero Alfaro, 2013). 

The Baix Camp county is no exception. Located in the southeast of Catalonia, this region is well known for its capital city, Reus, the birthplace of artist Antoni Gaudí and FC Barcelona’s footballer Sergi Roberto. Moreover, there are three nuclear reactors in the villages of Ascó and Vandellòs, respectively, turning Baix Camp into one of the principal energy resources of Catalonia. In fact, more than 70% of the electric energy produced in the Autonomous Community is from nuclear origin, according to Pep Puig’s report for Energia Sostenible. 

More than 80% of Baix Camp citizens have access to broadband networks, and nearly every single one of them owns a mobile phone (96’6% in 2017, according to Idescat), exemplifying that the First World is currently living in this so-called Broadband Society. In fact, Baix Camp and Tarragonès are the top two counties where more percentage of the population accesses the Internet frequently.

The latest CNMC results, published back in 2017, state that the province of Tarragona is one of the pioneers regarding Digital Subscriber Line (xDSL) networks, being well over the Spanish average, positioning at the fourth place in the list of provinces with more lines per 100 inhabitants. Tarragona owns 17’4 lines/100 inhabitants, while the national average lays at 10’9 lines/100 inhabitants.

It has to be noted that, in 2000, the Ministry of Digital Policies reached an agreement with Consorci Localret to guarantee ADSL in all industrial zones of Camp de Tarragona, as well as trying to provide exponential coverage in rural areas.

However, the introduction of more developed technologies, such as HFC or FTTH, is struggling overall. The number of HFC lines/100 inhabitants is four points lower than the national average, as Tarragona places as the sixth province with less impact referring to HFC penetration. The FTTH ones remain at 10’4 lines/100 inhabitants for the 14’4 lines/100 inhabitants that Spain has.

Nevertheless, we should take into account that Terres de l’Ebre territory, one of the regions with less percentage of households accessing the Internet regularly, is in the province of Tarragona as well as Tarragonès and Baix Camp, the two leaders of this category. Therefore, there is a distinct contrast between urban areas and rural zones. 

In total, there are near 250.000 lines of broadband networks in the Tarragona province, taking into account coaxial cable, HFC, xDSL and FTTH. 82.240 of those are fiber optics, a technology that is improving its results at each report. On the other hand, the amount of xDSL lines distributed in the territory is decreasing since 2014, when it reached its peak at 188.502. Nowadays, there are a little bit less than 140.000 xDSL lines. Finally, HFC is struggling to be successful, with 10.978 lines.

In 2008, Generalitat de Catalunya launched the project Catalunya Connecta to guarantee broadband in the entirety of the Catalan territory. The project got funds from the Spanish Government to make sure that every single village with 50 or more inhabitants has access to Internet and phone coverage. The plan had a budget of 110 million euros, divided into nearly 2.000 actions until 2010.

4,3 million euros were destined to the Baix Camp county. By May 2009, near three million euros had already been spent. Then, Jordi Bosch, representing Generalitat de Catalunya, promised that the next actions would take place in the municipalities of Capafonts and La Febró, two of the smallest in the county (according to 2018 stats, La Febró only has 56 inhabitants, while Capafonts has 122). The next goal would be L’Argentera, the last place without broadband connectivity.

However, it has to be noted that, nowadays, not every municipality has a broadband network. In June 2018, Jordi Puigneró, Minister of Digital Policies and Public Administration of Catalonia, stated that the current plan is to guarantee broadband for 2023. Besides that, by 2020, all county capitals should have fiber optics, as there are still seven with a less powerful connection.

In September 2015, the council of Reus decided to take a step forward in order to become a genuine Broadband Society with a project called Reus Smart City. A free-to-use Wi-Fi connection on all municipal service buildings was the main attraction of the plan. As perfect as it sounds, this service was limited to the promotion of the town, so users would only be able to look for information about what to do in Reus and which activities are going to take place there. However, to be able to connect to this —limited— network, you needed —and you still need— a password only provided at some buildings that expires in the short-term. Therefore, Reus’ citizens do not have full access to this free wireless connection whenever they need it. 

In the first steps of the project, a total of 11 backbones were installed between the city center, the nearby area of Carrilet and the bus station. Future plans stated that more Wi-Fi stations would be located on the outskirts of the town, something still to be done. Another initiative was the installation of a big screen in the Prim square, one of the most visited places in Reus, were citizens could read the instructions about how to connect to the public Wi-Fi and what services they would be able to find there. However, this never came to reality.

Nevertheless, there are three big successes related to this project. The first one is WiFiBus. Currently, Reus citizens can connect to the Internet for free while traveling with municipal transport without the restrictions of Reus WiFi. Secondly, most municipal facilities, like Xavier Amorós library, offer access to the Internet to its users —also working with a password— so they can work there with their laptops. Finally, the TQ BANCO SOLAR iNTELIGENTE is the cream of the crop. Installed in 2018 just in front of the train station, it may look like a strange bench with solar panels on top. Many people don’t know what is the functioning of this invention, as local media has published little information, but it provides a Wi-Fi connection and the possibility to charge mobile devices via USB.

In Reus, there are two principal broadband access’ technologies available: FTTx and ADSL, both offered by many operators like Movistar, the leader in the province, or Vodafone. Its availability depends on many factors, as stated by Movistar: geographical location, available infrastructure, coverage, optic fibers distribution, population, typology, topography, licenses and regulations. In consequence, every single client has to analyze, with the operator’s help, which option suits better his needs —or simply which one is available in his household—. Therefore, it could be the case that neighbours living in the same street or even in the same apartment block have different broadband systems.

To sum up, Baix Camp is one of the leaders in Catalonia as broadband connection refers. Every single municipality has access to Internet and phone coverage, the latest being given connectivity in the 2010s thanks to Pla Catalunya Connecta. Reus is one of the pioneers in the Smart City society, fostering multiple activities with diverse impacts. However, there’s a lack of information from this sector, as actions have been done secretly or are protected by confidential agreements. 

We analyze broadband and HbbTV evolution (here, the case of Reus and Baix Camp) 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), 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 (2021, Barcelona).