These 18 projects represented an investment of €8.49 million in Andalusia, the Canary Islands, Catalonia, Castile-La Mancha, Castile and León, the Valencian Community, Madrid, and Navarre. Of that amount, MásMóvil was entitled to receive €4.70 million in public subsidies, equivalent to 55.4% of the project costs.
However, the operator decided to abandon 11 of those 18 projects, representing investments of €5.67 million, or 66% (two-thirds) of the total contracts awarded. This means the group has declined to receive €3.03 million in non-repayable public aid, out of the €4.7 million to which the company was entitled. Sources at MásMóvil declined to explain the reasons for this decision.
Other sources in the sector indicate, however, that MásMóvil applied for 33 projects with a total investment of 50 million, but, having received only 18 projects and spread across different communities, deployment was no longer profitable from an economic rationality point of view.
One of the consequences of MásMóvil's last-minute decision is that, once the public resolution is issued, it cannot be modified. Therefore, the projects for the population centers where MásMóvil was going to deploy its network cannot be assigned to other operators, nor can the €3.03 million in funding be reallocated to other projects in other areas. In other words, these funds are lost for that fiscal year. However, these now-affected communities may be included in other deployment projects in future calls for proposals.
The Peba Plan has undergone a huge boost, as the Government has approved a budget of 525 million euros for the next four years to bring fiber optic internet to 100% of the 35,000 population centers in Spain.
