FTTH in Catalonia: the case of Baix Llobregat

Digitization is reaching all forms of information, which has resulted in the proliferation of devices for processing (personal computers, tablets, netbooks, e-books, smartphones, digital radios, digital TV and high definition, game consoles ...). In 2022, in the Broadband Society and cloud journalism, the Information and communications technology (ICT) constitute one of the main pillars of the 21st century society and economy. 

A study conducted in 2019 states that the ICT sector is responsible for 3,1% of the Spanish GDP, which shows the huge impact this sector can have in society. Inside this ICT sector, the internet has shown to be an essential platform for the economic and social development of advanced societies. In fact, broadband is having a revolutionary impact in said societies, and has become a reality all over the world, and also in Catalonia. During the past years, this technology has arrived in Catalonia and it’s different areas an municipalities, with fiber optics as one of the most important addition. In this article, we will talk, in collaboration with Olivia Ferrer, from UPF, about the history and situation of fiber optics in the autonomous community with a focus on the region of Baix Llobregat.  

In this case we will focus on the FTTH, as it’s the one most people have and are interested about. The FTTH or Fiber to the Home Telecommunication technology is a technology that reaches the customer’s homes, and it offers what’s known as Triple Play, which means that it gives access to the Internet, Television, and telephony and allows browsing at more than 2 Gbps. This networks also allows a higher download speed than the conventional copper ones used by the xDSL services, which helps obtain a speed superior to 100 Mbps. The FTTH technology also allows a higher symmetry, meaning similar downloading and uploading speed. Smartphones are the number one connection to broadband in households, and the fiber optics has increased its presence to arrive in the second position, before ADSL.

According to the Consell de Treball, Econòmic i Social de Catalunya (CTESC), the access to the internet in Catalan homes is increasing, but still has a long way to go to arrive at the level of the European Union. Access to the internet in the autonomous community is near 90% in 2022, while in the EU the percentage is similar. As for broadband, in Catalonia, 82,9% of households have access to this technology and in the European Union, 85% of families have it. The 2018 annual report of broadband coverage in Spain  published by the Ministry of Industry, Energy, and Tourism, stated that Catalonia is the fourth autonomous community in Spain with the highest fiber to the home coverage, 86,6%, which is a 9,2% more than the national average.

Source: SEAD

The problem with FTTH coverage is that it’s easy to get in metropolitan areas and big cities, but it usually doesn’t cover rural zones, and Catalonia is not the exception. In this report, we can see how the coverage decreases as we look at smaller municipalities. In 2018, Generalitat de Catalunya said that they will extend the coverage of the broadband a 25%, that will be able to get to 99% of the population thanks to the Fixed Radio Access (AFR). This  will guarantee the continuity of the service of the Rural Broadband Network (BAR) in the territory linked to 3G and 4G mobile networks.

Source: SEAD

The technologies with the highest coverage in Catalonia are the wireless of more than 2 Mbps, followed by ADSL and FTTH. During the mid-’90s, cable became an essential element for the progress of Catalan public administration. For this reason, Menta (Cable i Televisió de Catalunya) created a new mixed network of fiber optics and coaxial cable was deployed and at the same time, the offer for multimedia services increased. At the same time, the Generalitat de Catalunya also deployed a fiber optic network to connect all the capitals of the regions in 2001. Nevertheless, at the end of 1999, this deployment didn’t reach the expectations and people started questioning the possibility for broadband infrastructure in Catalonia. But at that moment, Telefónica, the multinational telecommunications company, introduced ADSL to cover the need for broadband. It was in 2007 when the access to the internet through broadband in Catalonia arrived at 95% of the population thanks to the implementation of the WiMAX technology. During that year, access to broadband in the territory was superior to 90% with 36 out of 41 of the Catalan regions. In 2018, only in Spain, 35.100 enterprises where considered of the ICT sector, a 3,2% more than in 2017. The number of employed people in the sector also increased.

The Baix Llobregat is a county in the region of Barcelona with circa 825.900 inhabitants. It was common for a lot of these inhabitants to have problems with their mobile connection when a lot of people used the phone at the same time, as happened during the matches in the Camp Nou, but in 2014, fiber optics arrived allowing 77% of households in Esplugues to access this technology with a broadband of 100 Mbps. This changed the way they used the internet because it allowed high definition T.V, online games, videoconferences in maximum quality, among many other things and even with several devices at a time. A town hall councillor, Juan A. Fernández, said that “Esplugues is getting closer to being a Smart City in which technology is at the service of citizen welfare” and added that fiber optics is “another step that will guarantee the equality of citizenship in the field of new technologies".

Although some advances have been made, the Baix Llobregat and many other counties don’t have a good enough network to fulfill their needs, but it looks like this will change soon. This year 2020, the Catalan Government plans to connect the Baix Llobregat, Garraf and Baix Penedès with a fiber optics public network. This network will be connected between Castelldefels and El Vendrell with the wiring of 55,1 km that will go through the C-32 highway and will connect the following municipalities: Castelldefels, Sitges, Sant Pere de Ribes, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Cubelles, Cunit, Calafell, and El Vendrell. The final objective of this project, according to the Generalitat de Catalunya, is to have the whole region connected to fiber optics by 2023. To this day, the Catalan government has installed 4.500 km of fiber optics network, but there is a plan to increase it because only 29 of the 42 capitals of the regions have fiber optics connections. This extension will not only benefit the main cities, but also the other small municipalities on the way. On the same path, this past summer, Endesa invested 764.000 euros to install 23 km of fiber optics in Baix Llobregat and la Anoia with the aim of improving the response capacity during incidents.

In conclusion, Baix Llobregat and other counties and municipalities are slowly getting a better connections thanks to the Catalan Government, that in investing with the purpose that Catalonia becomes a territory with important digital and technological structures. The arrival of fiber optics to smaller municipalities helps to connect the infrastructures and public services everywhere in the autonomous community and in the country, as well as guaranteeing the territorial cohesion, equal opportunities, economical and social progress and especially a strong fight against depopulation. In 2017, only 15% of the catalan municipalities had fiber to the home, but nowadays, and thanks to this project, this number has largely increased. The Generalitat will invest 16,5 millions euros for these connection works, which translates into a total of 382 km of new fiber optic network. This project is still in its beginning stages, so we can ask ourselves, what’s to come?

We analyze broadband and HbbTV evolution (here, the case of Baix Llobregat) 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 DMTforum-XXVI Cable and Broadband Catalonia Congress (19 May 2022, CNMC, Barcelona).