The king connection to enjoy the Internet in Spain is fiber optics. Of that there is no doubt. Basically because 84% of the broadband lines in our country are already fiber to the home (FFTH). The evolution of the coverage of this network over the last few years shows how it has managed to spread at great speed. So it is time to see a brief comparison on how this connection has been triggered.
There are still less populated areas or historic city centers in Spain that do not have fiber optics to the home. Although, that does not mean that from 2017 to 2022, according to the most recent data from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformationits coverage has grown from 71% to 90% of homes in our country in just five years.
fiber growth
The total number of fiber optic lines to the home in March exceeded 14 million. And for this very reason it is necessary to take into account what has been the evolution of this Internet connection in our country, to know specifically how it has reached that figure. For this, we will use the latest data published by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, which is from March of this year.
In them, you can see how the fiber does not stop growing. Among the most striking data is that coverage of more than 100 Mbps is already available in 89.96% of homes, with an increase of 1.65 percentage points in the last year. Also, 9 out of 10 houses enjoy a connection of more than 100 Mbps right now. And this same thing leads us to the fact that by the end of 2024, ultra-fast broadband coverage can reach 95.75% nationwide.
With the data from the ministry, it can be seen how in 2017, specifically on June 30, the national average with FTTH coverage was 71.4%. Among the communities with the highest percentage were: Aragon with 72.6%, the Balearic Islands with 78.8%, Catalonia with 83%, the Basque Country with 87.5%, Madrid with 96.1% and Melilla with a 100%.
Five years later, on June 30, 2022, things changed a lot. The average rose to almost 90%, staying at 89.87%. And the best thing is that only three communities fell below this figure: Castilla y León with 75.84%, Asturias with 77% and Galicia with 77.11%.
In any case, each month there is a constant evolution and more fiber continues to be brought to homes in Spain. For example, in February 84,711 new fiber optic lines to the home (FTTH) were added, reaching a total figure of 13.9 million. At that time, 36.5% of the total FTTH lines corresponded to Movistar. However, in March the figure of 14 million lines was already exceeded, according to data published in CNMCData. In addition, it must be taken into account that 75.1% of the total lines were concentrated in Movistar, Orange (including Jazztel) and Vodafone (including Ono).
Therefore, there is clear progress by Spain towards the objective set by the EU in digital connectivity. Especially since the main objective is to ensure that at least this ultra-fast 100 Mbps connection reaches 100% of the population in any part of Spanish territory in 2025.
