The pandemic has shown that connectivity infrastructure is a fundamental part of supporting Europe's digital economy. 5G technology will complete that fundamental role of connecting people, as well as being a tool for economic reconstruction and a bridge for social and territorial cohesion.

In order to implement 5G technology, the deployment of 5G networks and coverage in the main national and cross-border transport corridors, roads and railways, primary and secondary corridors, and border corridors will be promoted and accelerated in line with those already defined by the European Commission and currently under development. Likewise, the promotion of multi-country corridors will be encouraged, promoting those located between Spain and Portugal, and Spain and France.

Likewise, the extension of the coverage and availability of the 5G service throughout the national territory will be promoted and accelerated. To facilitate the deployment, actions will be taken to increase the capacity of the existing network trunks so that they are capable of responding to the high bandwidth demand and the density of base stations that the 5G deployment will require.

It is necessary that these actions are aimed at extending 5G from an early stage to all groups and companies in both urban and rural areas, contributing to the strategies for solving the demographic challenge. It is estimated that there are between 800,000 and 1,400,000 inhabitants, mainly located in rural areas, with broadband coverage at 30 Mbps in insufficient mobility.

New investments will be needed to improve and extend connectivity of 5G sites (both those to be upgraded and new deployments, particularly in rural areas) through terrestrial or satellite technologies, so that the existing network can adapt to future changes, respond to bandwidth demand and the inclusive deployment model being pursued.

In addition to the above, radio links and other elements that are bottlenecks and potential bottlenecks for 5G traffic will need to be replaced. Currently, it is estimated that 5,000 mobile access network infrastructure sites have connectivity with a non-scalable speed of 1 Gbps.

Tractor use cases will also be developed in key, high-impact economic activities and essential services such as education, healthcare and social-healthcare areas. The arrival of 5G represents an opportunity to create an ecosystem of knowledge, to promote a productive fabric that thinks, creates and designs applications that take advantage of this technology. The goal is for companies and operators to collaborate to shape these business solutions, which must also be exportable and scalable if they prove to be viable and profitable. In addition, they should play a driving and demonstrating role for the application sector, reinforcing Spain's role as one of the driving forces of digitization in the EU.

The development of innovative digital services that can be enhanced by 5G technology will be key to bringing public services to all citizens anywhere in the country, and therefore contribute to building a more resilient and prepared society.

Finally, the creation of 5G cybersecurity ecosystems should be highlighted, establishing a reference center for testing, validation, research and testing of these infrastructures.