Spanish authorities launched a call for projects to install standalone 5G in areas lacking the latest mobile technologies, targeting a €544 million fund on municipalities of less than 10,000 inhabitants with the intent of aiding tourism, agriculture and public services.

The country’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation opened applications today (10 October), with interested parties given until 31 October to submit proposals.

Cash is set to fund active and passive kit, and forms part of a wider Digital Spain push, with financing coming from a European Union pot.

The Ministry noted it intended the money to be used to “avoid a territorial gap”, with deployments in “smaller urban centres” that guarantee “balanced development of tools that facilitate access to the digital economy in areas such as tourism, agriculture [and] public services”.  

Its call for applications is aimed at operators and designed for areas lacking high grade mobile coverage where there are currently no immediate plans to rectify this.

Authorities expect the funded projects to provide infrastructure which guarantees “access to cutting-edge applications and services, such as the IoT, AI, VR and AR”.