Spain Digital 2026: 5G covers 99% of the population as the rural gap narrows to 3 points

The Ministry for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service has presented figures from the 2025 Broadband Coverage Report, marking a turning point in the country’s connectivity. 5G now reaches 99.27% of Spain’s population, placing Spain among Europe’s leaders in rolling out next-generation mobile networks. This progress is more than a statistical milestone: it represents the delivery of Spain Digital 2026 goals, which aim to close territorial divides through public and private investment.

The reduction of the digital divide is the most significant finding for public policy. In 2021, the difference between urban and rural coverage was ten times greater; today, that distance has narrowed to a historic low of 3 percentage points. Minister Óscar López has stressed that this progress stems from effective public-private collaboration, in which subsidy programmes have enabled operators to reach municipalities where investment would not have been viable without state support.

Rural areas have been the main focus of investment under the Recovery Plan. 5G coverage in these areas rose from 80% in 2024 to 96.13% in 2025, an increase of 16 percentage points in a single year. Much of this leap is due to the UNICO 5G Active Networks Programme, which has allocated almost 670 million euros to improve coverage in municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, prioritising the 3.5 GHz band to ensure high speeds.

The most significant change, however, is in 5G Stand Alone (SA) technology. In 2024, only 12.3% of the rural population had access to 5G SA; by 2025, that figure had surged to 91.2%. This technology is crucial for advanced services such as the industrial Internet of Things (IoT), precision telemedicine and intelligent agricultural resource management, enabling rural communities to access the same digital capabilities as major cities.

To help users and businesses verify actual network availability, the State Secretariat for Telecommunications (SETELECO) maintains up-to-date interactive maps of broadband services. These maps offer an unprecedented level of detail: for mobile networks, the minimum resolution is 50-metre-by-50-metre grid squares, making it possible to identify precisely whether a particular address has 4G or 5G coverage from any operator.

Transparency in coverage data is essential to market competition. Annual reports include not only aggregated coverage but also speeds under peak-demand conditions, defined as network performance when 20% of users are connected simultaneously. This methodology helps consumers make informed choices about their operator and avoid coverage surprises that can occur when switching providers without consulting official sources.

As 5G becomes established, the industry is already looking towards 6G. Vodafone Spain and the University of Málaga have completed the deployment of an experimental 6G-5G network under the PANDORA project, funded by the European Union. The infrastructure is based on Open RAN architectures, which allow hardware from different suppliers to be integrated under the same software, breaking with the traditional single-vendor model and fostering innovation and cybersecurity.

The Network Intelligence Lab (RIC) associated with this deployment enables experimentation with artificial intelligence algorithms to optimise mobility, quality of service and energy efficiency. These advances are key to preparing for the next generation of networks, which is expected to offer even lower latency and full integration with edge computing. University participation in these pilots helps ensure that technical transition is accompanied by robust scientific development.

Despite overall success, some areas still lack a signal. To address this challenge, the government has published Order TDF/812/2026, establishing the terms for grants to provide active equipment in areas without a 4G/5G mobile network signal from any operator. Known as “5G Very Rural Networks”, this initiative aims to ensure that no municipality is left off the basic connectivity map, in line with the EU’s territorial cohesion goals.

The copper network switch-off is also progressing rapidly, with Spain leading this process in Europe. Migration to more efficient and faster networks not only improves the user experience but also reduces the energy consumption of telecommunications infrastructure. The conclusion of the Spain Digital 2026 programme is shaping up as a success in terms of coverage, although the next challenge will be to maintain service quality and manage the technical complexity of hybrid 5G/6G networks.