These 510 locations in Spain will have total free wifi subsidized by the EU
These supports are part of the program 'Wifi4EU' (Wi-Fi for the EU, in English), with which the EU wants to support the installation of high-speed connections in between 6,000 and 8,000 municipalities throughout the EU block, thanks to a budget which is around 120 million euros for the period 2018-2020.
The call to apply for these grants was open only two days - from April 4 to 5 - and responded to the call around 10,000 municipalities. According to highlighted Brussels 98% of municipalities submitted their request in the first minute after the opening of the call, in which the bonds are distributed by order of registration.
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Thus, Spain is located, along with Italy and France, at the head of the countries in which more municipalities will benefit from the second call for this type of aid. (Here you can consult the list of selected Spanish municipalities)
In all three cases, they have 510 selected localities, that is, 15% each of the budget foreseen for this call, which is the ceiling set by the rules. Brussels will still call another two bids from here to conclude the project, one of them before the end of this year.
The municipalities that receive the funds must ensure that the 'wifi' connection is available within 18 months of being granted. During this time, the town councils will have to define their project and select the company that will be responsible for the installation.
It is also the responsibility of the municipalities to choose the Internet operator. The connection contract, in any case, must be extended for at least three years, during which the municipalities must pay maintenance costs.
The condition, however, is that the connection offered from each point within this initiative is of high quality, at least 30 Mbps. Brussels will remotely monitor this criterion on the quality of the connection.
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