Alonso inaugurated the conference on the 'Future of Fiber Optics and Deployment Techniques' organized by the Spanish College of Telecommunications Engineers in collaboration with the National Association of Local Telecommunications Operators (Aotec). Joining him in welcoming the attendees were José Carlos Báez, a member of the COIT Governing Board, and Antonio García Vidal, president of Aotec.

The Deputy Director of Telecommunications highlighted the importance of the "professional and engineer" role, as well as the work of local operators and the quality of the fiber optic deployments carried out by small and medium-sized enterprises in Spain. Referring to engineering firms and local operators, he asserted that the economic incentives of the European recovery plan will be "an opportunity for everyone."


April 30th deadline
Regarding the specific actions to be presented to the EU, these must be finalized before April 30th. Initial drafts have already been submitted. Some of these actions are already outlined in the Plan for Connectivity and Digital Infrastructures and in the Strategy to Boost 5GAccording to the government representative, "The coming months are crucial."

The funds from the Next Generation recovery program will quadruple the volume of subsidies granted annually by the State Secretariat for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure, reaching 600 million euros, compared to the 150 million euros granted in 2020 to finance fiber optic deployments through the PEBA (Broadband Extension Plan).

Alonso explained that the Executive has modified the legislation in order to expedite the processing of procedures through the Royal Decree 36/2020 Published on December 31st. “If we are unable to implement the budgets we present, the money won't come,” he emphasized. “We have an enormous challenge, a crucial task: to achieve economic growth and job creation,” he asserted.

For his part, the president of Aotec highlighted the work of local operators in extending fiber optic networks to small towns and defended the need for telecommunications SMEs to also be involved in new initiatives planned for the coming months. Furthermore, given the "new frontier that 5G represents in mobile technology, we also want to participate in accelerating its arrival" to rural areas. To this end, they have submitted their proposals to the government, which include the establishment of a neutral operator, frequency reservations, and the obligation to transfer frequencies to third parties. "It's time to level the playing field across the country."

Deployments
Regarding the deployment of fiber optics and other future infrastructure (such as that involved in 5G), Alonso announced that work is underway to create a single processing point at the municipal level. This will complement the single information point that is already in place.

For his part, Marc Aznar, head of the Professional Works Service at COIT, has advocated for the unification of the necessary documentation in deployment plans, since due to the lack of definition in the regulations, each municipality currently requires different information.

In this regard, he pointed out that the documentation must include a report, plans, the specifications, the budget, and a basic health and safety study. He also noted that, as a new feature, these documents can now be submitted in Google Earth format so that the city council can easily incorporate them into its maps.

Finally, García Vidal pointed out that in an increasingly technological society, "municipalities will need to incorporate telecommunications engineers or receive support from provincial councils or autonomous communities" to strengthen their localities.

In response to questions from attendees, Adrián Nogales, Director of Institutional Relations at COIT, explained that UNE—the Spanish Association for Standardization—is working on standardizing the requirements for these poles. This will complement the UNE 0059, generating a new standard within the section UNE 133/100 specifically geared towards new plastic materials.