PEBA Information  

PEBA program (2005-2008)

PEBA (National Program for Broadband Deployment In Rural And Isolated Areas) was a national funding program promoted by The Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce of Spain between 2005 and 2008 in order to stimulate operators' investments in broadband infrastructures at rural and isolated areas.

This program was part of "Avanza", the Spanish government strategy to develop the Information Society in Spain. PEBA goal was to provide broadband access to the population of countryside and isolated areas with similar conditions to those available in urban areas.

 Program development and calls

Within the framework of the ICT/701/2005 ministerial order, two calls for proposals for grants from telecommunication operators were announced:

• First call (2.005): 13 projects from 2 operators (Telefonica and Telecable) were approved
• Second call (2.007): 16 projects, 2 operators (Telefonica and Telecable) were approved

Collaboration with Autonomous Regions and Local Administrations was key to define the target population centres, to assess proposals for projects and to monitor infrastructures deployment and quality of commercial service.

From the program kick-off in 2.005, 13 meetings were organized by a Monitoring Committee composed of all the stakeholders (local administrations, the ministry and the two beneficiary operators). This allowed successful execution of the program and consolidation of relationships between the agents.

PEBA principles

In order to ensure consecution of the programme objectives, not duplication of investments and not distortion of competition, specific service and operative requirements were required to both projects and beneficiary operators.

Service requirements consisted on providing broadband access with a minimum download speed and a maximum monthly fee.

• Minimum bandwidth: 256Kbps/128Kbps
• Fixed maximum prices: Initial quota of 39 € (subscription), and a monthly fee of 39 € during the 36 first months of contract.
• Technical features similar to those offered by  broadband commercial services at urban areas .

Additionally, the program operative requirements consisted on:

1. Technological neutrality so that any type of broadband technology could be deployed and to avoid technology obsolescence,
2. The duty of the beneficiaries to open up the financed networks to competition.
3. Infrastructure investments in well-defined and not serviced areas in order to avoid duplicative investments.

PEBA broadband technologies

Taking into account cabled technologies such as DSL are distance sensitive, and generally only feasible within a few miles of the nearest central office switch, PEBA projects were not limited to a single technology. At present, several technological solutions (ADSL, WiMAX, Satellite and HFC) are being used to provide broadband access to the PEBA population centres, depending on their geographic features, roll–out dates and available technology.

Currently, download speeds offered by means of two of the PEBA broadband technologies have been improved: 

• ADSL: 1Mbps minimum. The possibility of offering higher speeds depends of specific conditions such us distance to the office switch, cable features, etc. 
• HFC:  4Mbps

Investments and achievements

PEBA investments through 29 projects and two beneficiary operators, amounted to nearly 85 million€ which have allowed access to broadband services to 8 million people from 58.442 population centres of our country. The Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade contributed more than 17 million € zero interest reimbursable loans and 8 million € non-recoverable subsidies to support these investments.

Next table summarizes areas covered by the program: