Fast 5G continues to grow and reaches 74% of the population

Fast 5G, which uses the 3.5 GHz frequency, reaches 74% of the population, according to the Ministry of Digital Transformation's report, which compiles data from a year ago, from June 2024. Its coverage has increased significantly from the 58% reflected in the previous report, with data from June 2023.

5G mobile coverage reached 95.76% of the national population in June 2024, which is 3.56 percentage points more than in the same period of the previous year, according to the latest data from the Broadband Report prepared by the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Civil Service . Coverage in rural areas of the country stood at 80.01%, which represents a year-on-year increase of 11.08 points compared to the previous year's report, with data from June 2023.

Figures show that 5G coverage in Spain has increased by almost 37 percentage points since 2021, when the rate stood at 58.98%, while in rural areas the current percentage is triple what it was four years ago, when it was 26.14%.

However, not all 5G services offer the same quality and speed. 5G coverage in the 3.5 GHz band—a medium-range band where operators have the most spectrum and, therefore, can offer the highest speed—still stands at 74.06% of the population, although according to the Ministry, it has increased by 15.93 points in the last year.

Furthermore, this 5G in the mid-3.5 GHz bands has been deployed primarily in large cities, where there is a high concentration of customers. Therefore, its coverage in rural areas is still very limited, at 23.21%, although it has increased by 12.29 points in the last twelve months.

In any case, this 5G in the 3.5 GHz band is not going to be the dominant technology in rural areas, as it is very expensive. The alternative option will be the 700 MHz band, which has greater propagation and reach and, therefore, greater coverage, making it cheaper to deploy.

The Broadband Coverage Report in Spain always uses data from June of the previous year, so by the time it's published 12 months later, the reality it describes is already outdated.

Similarly, 5G stand-alone or autonomous - which uses a 5G core and can offer more features of the standard -, which in this edition is registered for the first time as a coverage parameter, reaches 44.11% of the general population and 12% in rural areas.

Rural 5G coverage will be significantly increased once the projects funded through the UNICO 5G Active Networks program, with a budget of 670 million, are completed. The plan is expected to be finalized by February 2026.

In fixed fiber network coverage, year-on-year growth is already very low, since, with coverage at very high levels, the new municipalities added to coverage thanks to public subsidy plans (UNICO or PEBA) are very small towns that barely add up overall.

Thus, fiber networks prepared for speeds of more than 1 gigabit per second (GPS or one thousand megabits per second) reached 93.88% of the population by June 2024, but had only progressed by 1.36 points from 92.52% the previous year .

Regarding fiber coverage suitable for reaching 1 GPS in rural areas, it already reaches 83.92% of the population, 4.85 points more than a year ago, thanks to the UNICO plans, which are still being rolled out.