Aran joins the 5G Areas and completes the implementation of the program throughout Catalonia

• Area 5G Aran, with the local leadership of the General Council of Aran, aims to promote strategic sectors for the whole of this territory such as sustainable and future mobility, livestock and the environment, and tourism and sports in the natural environment.
• With the activation of the Aran 5G Area, the deployment of the 5G Areas project, promoted by the Department of the Vice-Presidency and Digital Policies and Territory of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Mobile World Capital Barcelona and the i2CAT Foundation, is completed throughout the Catalan territory.
• The 5G areas deployed throughout Catalonia aggregate different initiatives aimed at promoting this technology to the territory: training and dissemination activities, workshops, proofs of concept and laboratories.

20 May, 2022

Vielha, May 20th 2022 – The latest extension of the 5G Areas project, which involves covering the entire territory of the Principality, was presented this morning in Vielha. The project is promoted by the Catalonia’s Government, through the Department of the Vice-Presidency and Digital Policies and Territory, Mobile World Capital Barcelona and the i2CAT Foundation, in the framework of the 5G Strategy of Catalonia. In addition, the Aran 5G Area has the support and collaboration of the General Council of Aran, the IDAPA, the Diputació de Lleida and the Chamber of Commerce of Lleida, and with the 5G coverage of Movistar.

The 5G Aran Area aims to promote a series of sectors that are strategic for the whole of this territory, such as sustainable and future mobility, the improvement in the provision of services, the development of the local economy or technological training.

Maria Vergés, trustee of Aran explained that “one of the main commitments of the General Council of Aran is the bet for innovation and the retention and attraction of young talent in the territory; in this line we develop various projects focused on the creation, implementation and expansion of innovative and sustainable projects with positive impact on mountain areas such as the Aran Valley, generating a diversified socio-economic activity”. And he added: “in this sense, the fact that Aran is part of the 5G Area makes it easier for us to become an innovative territory and puts us on an equal footing with urban areas”.

In Aran, as in the rest of the Pyrenees, mobility is a key issue. Services are not always available and this requires continuous travel to access commerce, health, leisure or work. Along with mobility, the low density of the population, with widely distributed inhabitants, generates the need for innovative solutions in the provision of services, personalized and tailored to the specific needs of the area.

Culture, mountain sports, active tourism and livestock farming can also benefit from this project, since, for example, extensive livestock farming requires new control and monitoring tools that need good connectivity. The 5G Aran Area is also born with a unique project linked to the ski resort of Baqueira Beret, which will become an open laboratory for innovation projects linked to the tourism and mountain sports sectors.

According to the Vice President of the Government and Minister of Digital Policies and Territory, Jordi Puigneró, “today is an important day, because with the activation of the 5G Aran Area, the eighth of the 5G Areas of Catalonia, culminates the deployment of the entire territory of a project that is part of the commitment of the Vice Presidency of the Government to have a connected and structured country, generating equal opportunities for all citizens of Catalonia, wherever they live”. Puigneró adds that “digitalization is currently the most relevant tool to fight against the depopulation of rural areas, and projects such as the 5G Aran Area contribute to local economic development and the generation of job opportunities in the digital sector”.

The activation of the 5G Aran Area has been possible thanks to the connectivity provided by Movistar in Baqueira. According to the general manager of Telefónica in Catalonia, Chema Casas, “this deployment is part of the company’s commitment to cover the entire territory by 2025 with fiber optics and 86.5% enjoy 5G connectivity”. He added: “Catalonia is one of the best connected territories in Europe, which allows our companies, administrations and Catalans in general to have the necessary tools to get on the digital transformation train”.

Among other aspects, the creation of the 5G Aran Area will facilitate the analysis of the challenges and needs of these sectors and help to implement new products and services, based on 5G technology, in response. Precisely for this reason, Eduard Martín, CIO and Director of Smart Connectivity at Mobile World Capital Barcelona, explained “we are very pleased to be in Vielha today to welcome this new area, which is so necessary for smart connectivity and which closes the cycle of the 5G Areas in Catalonia. The 5G Aran Area will contribute to improve the most relevant economic sectors of the area through technology”.

Rosa Paradell, director of Innovation and Business Development for the public sector at the i2CAT Foundation added that “the arrival of 5G technology will not only help develop economic activity in the area, but will also facilitate the deployment of other Advanced Digital Technologies (ADTs) such as artificial intelligence, drones and IoT”.

Impact in Aran and priority areas of work

Economic dynamization and the promotion of innovation are essential to improve the competitiveness of companies in the region. Through the implementation of pilots in the test space, companies will be able to transform their management to become more efficient by transforming their business model. The impact of 5G areas in mountain areas is closely linked to the retention of talent and to stop the depopulation of these areas, generating the need for qualified technological profiles.

The culmination of the 5G Areas project in Aran will also reduce the digital divide in mountain areas and will help to identify deployment models that will make bandwidth connectivity viable in the future. In addition, 5G application use cases will be sought, accelerating its deployment on a global scale and especially in mountain environments such as the Aran Valley, and in full collaboration with the 5G Area of the High Pyrenees, with whom we are already cooperating in some of the verticals.

The director of the Economic Promotion Board of Lleida’s Provincial Council, Ramón Boixadera, highlighted that the incorporation of Aran will have an impact on the economic and social fabric of the area, fostering innovation and economic dynamization. He also added that “the range of advantages of 5G technology goes far beyond its great speed and capacity. Although its development is due in part to the competitiveness it will offer, it will serve as an essential tool to help combat depopulation, allow more people to settle in rural and mountain areas and address global challenges, such as sustainability. A technology that, in addition to contributing to energy savings, will also contribute to being respectful of the planet”.

The president of the Chamber of Commerce of Lleida, Jaume Saltó, assures that the implementation of 5G in Aran will boost two vital factors in the demarcation of Lleida: “On the one hand, the competitiveness of companies, mainly those in the tourism sector, as they will be able to offer better services; and on the other hand, to avoid rural depopulation. The fact of being able to have a fiber optic network and 5G, can improve the attraction of talent linked to the territory”.

Improved service delivery

The aim of the 5G Areas is to boost the Catalan 5G ecosystem and turn Catalonia into an international benchmark for this technology. In short, innovate from the territory for the territory. Its objectives are to improve existing technological services throughout Catalonia, promote the commercial use of the 5G network and boost its deployment, promoting use cases and proofs of concept in real environments and fostering a digital economy beyond urban areas. This will boost the local economy while connecting stakeholders with the ecosystem and promoting participation.

The 5G Areas aim to introduce long-range structures in the territory with a public-private investment model and become points of reference for dissemination and training on the new possibilities offered by this technology and its facilitating, integrating and generating character of new business models. In addition, they are also a tool to promote the repopulation of these areas, generating the rooting of digital talent to respond to the digital transformation of the territory.

A collaborative Project

This project joins the 5G Areas Alto Pirineo, Terres de l’Ebre, Poniente, Campo de Tarragona, Penedés, Cataluña Central and Girona, presented in recent months and which seek to boost and digitize sectors such as rural, livestock, agri-food, social and health, commercial, logistics, industrial, tourism and energy, among others.

The Aran 5G Area would not be possible without the joint work of different institutions and actors of the territory that contribute their skills and knowledge to maximize the impact of technology in the territory.