The “5G Euskadi” project has been awarded the aid program of the Spanish Government for the development and implementation of the new technology. This is the first 5G pilot project in the Basque Country and was born from the commitment to promote innovation and industrial transformation of the main companies and technology centers in the Basque Country.

This project is made up of a consortium of 13 partners from a wide ecosystem of telecommunications operators, network equipment providers, universities, research centers, public institutions and private companies: Euskaltel, R, Orange, MASMOVIL Group, ZTE Spain, ZTE Managed Services, Gestamp, Ikusi (Grupo Velatia), CAF, Dbus (Donostia City Council), Datik (Grupo Irizar), Ceit and Vicomtech. These companies have also established collaboration agreements with Iberdrola, Basque Security Center (Basque Government), Tecnalia, University of the Basque Country and Tecnun (University of Navarra). In addition, this project has the support of the Basque public administration: Basque Government (Department of Economic Development and Infrastructures), Donostia-San Sebastián City Council, Bizkaia County Council, Gipuzkoa County Council, Araba County Council, Zamudio City Council and City Council of Abadiño.

It should also be noted that the pilot project has been designed and managed by Red Colmena (Promotora de Redes Compartidas, SA) and the management of the Euskaltel correspondence consortium.

The project, approved within the board of directors of Red.es, an entity of the Ministry of Economy and Business, will last 30 months, represents an investment of 7.1 million euros, for which Red.es grants a grant of 2.2 million and is co-financed through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), in charge of the Pluriregional Operational Program of Spain (POPE).

This joint initiative consists of deploying a 5G network in the three Technological Parks of the Basque Country (Gipuzkoa, Bizkaia, Araba) and in Abadiño, for which it will allocate 65% of the budget, and developing 9 use cases, which will complete the total of the investment.

Specifically, these use cases are aimed at the pre-commercial development of products and services in the areas of mobility, energy, Industry, Cybersecurity and Network Services. For this, they will experiment with the latest generation 5G technology: Edge computing, Network slicing and Virtualization of the network and the capabilities that 5G develops in speed (20 times faster than 4G), latency (100 times less latency than 4G) and massive IoT (the number of devices is multiplied by 100 connected per km2 compared to 4G).

Development of 5G technology in Spain

The “5G Euskadi” project was born from the reflection on the future development of 5G networks and their relevance for the social and economic development of the territory, applying this technology in the fields of mobility, energy, industry and cybersecurity. It is part of the 2nd call of the program of the public entity Red.es, dependent on the Ministry of Economy and Business.

With the calls for 5G pilots, launched within the framework of the National 5G Plan and the National Plan for Smart Territories, the Government seeks to promote an early demand that facilitates experimentation with the different potentialities of 5G and promotes the development of ecosystems between operators, providers of technology and solutions and other agents involved.

The experience gained will make it easier for Spain to be among the most advanced countries in the development of this new technology. In this way, it is promoted that, when 5G reaches its technological and commercial maturity, the country can be prepared for an adequate provision of services and take full advantage of the opportunities of this technology, essential for the digital transformation of society and the economy. in the most advanced countries over the next decade.

The approved projects serve three objectives: to experiment with the first deployments of 5G networks and the network management techniques that this technology allows, and to develop use cases with the involvement of all agents, including users.