Spain

Telefónica Spain has developed a new scheme allowing it to transform its network by shutting down a copper switchboard a day until 2020. The Faro Project is designed to enable the shutdown of 653 copper switchboards by 2020, 253 of which will occur this year, 200 in 2019, and 200 more in 2020.

The company says that, under the project framework, it will be able to make savings when it comes to energy and space, citing the space occupation of fibre at 15 per cent in comparison to copper and potential energy savings of up to 60 per cent.

The Prime Minister of Spain has announced plans to ensure that the entire country has access to 300Mb/s fibre broadband by 2021, with an investment of €525 million in the next stage of developments designed to place the country ‘at the global head in availability of digital infrastructure.’

Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy said in a presentation of the Plan for the Extension of Broadband, that Spain must take a leap to become a reference to the challenges of the future, stating that digitisation must take centre stage of the political debate and is a governmental priority.