León, that land where all my ancestors were born and that I have known so well since I came into this world. A land where you can always eat well and with landscapes as spectacular as they are problematic from a technological point of view. And it is that, surrounded by mountains and almost uninhabited villages, Having coverage to make calls can be a utopia. I won’t even mention having mobile data with which to send a simple Telegram or WhatsApp message.
That’s why my surprise was enormous when on my last vacation I discovered the Huge advances in mobile coverage in areas where communication was traditionally cut off. At most, you had to climb a little bit of the mountain and, like a sketch from a film that portrays rural Spain with clichés, raise your arm with your mobile phone to have a little line coverage. This has completely changed.
From absolutely nothing to a 5G that promises a lot
There are practically countless occasions when, four years ago now, Apple said “5G” at the iPhone 12 launch event. It was in 2020, when after having seen all their competitors get ahead, the Californians finally launched terminals compatible with these high-speed networks and that painted a brighter future.
That future remained the future for a long time afterwards. Except for some very localized areas in large cities such as Barcelona or Madrid, 5G coverage in Spain was quite poor. 4G, which still dominates, won by far in terms of future coverage.
Speed test in the middle of a mountain road about 20 kilometers from the nearest town
Well then, That future of 5G is finally hereI don’t feel I have enough authority to say that we have reached our highest peak, but we have reached our best records. This is something I have confirmed by living in a metropolitan area of Madrid, where, fortunately or unfortunately, priority is always given to improving telecommunications infrastructure. The challenge was to find something similar in regions such as León, which, as I mentioned at the beginning, I know from my own experience have always been difficult for coverage.
Well, for a couple of years now I have been observing how technologies such as fibre optics or 4G coverage were spreading in more and more towns, in some cases being a giant step by installing repeaters in areas where there was not even 3G. What has surprised me this summer is seeing the number of areas already covered by 5G.
While it is true that I must clarify the connection speedsince in some places the speed does not reach the enormous peaks that this technology is capable of offering. However, it is considerably faster than the 4G connection and, of course, infinitely one percent better than the non-existent coverage of yesteryear.
Spain, a country where we boast of great infrastructure
Although there is still much to do, Spain boasts extensive coverage (Image: Xataka Mobile)
There will be those who think it is absurd to highlight an improvement in telecommunications infrastructure in 2024 compared to what was seen in the past. And in a way I understand that. It is part of the evolution that we improve over the years. The highlight here is that It’s been an overnight improvement (metaphorically speaking, but also almost literally).
Although if there is something I would like to appreciate is that, despite the still existing need to continue improving to cover the entire territory, we can boast of living in one of the best countries in terms of telecoms refers toAnd no, not because of its workers (also), but because of the advances we have in infrastructure.
More than 80% of the Spanish population can now have access to 5G networks
ANDSpain is one of the countries with the best coverage and highest speedwith The three major operators cover more than 80% of the territoryIn my case, I have contracted O2 for my mobile, so I have 5G in 85% of the country(as is Movistar, since both companies are owned by Telefónica).
And beyond the data, this is something that I have unfortunately been able to experience first-hand. In large cities like London, and using native SIM cards from leading companies, I have experienced how in some areas I didn’t even have voice coverage. And I’m not referring to peripheral neighborhoods, but to areas very close to the city center.
To pick out a drawback, which also affects Apple very closely, is that We don’t have 5G mmWave extended yetwhich is the technology with the greatest range and provides hellish speeds with 26 GHz bands. This is the opposite case in the United States, where it is spreading to a greater or lesser extent and the reason why the iPhones sold there have a mmWave antenna and in countries like ours they do not.
Cover image | Montage with photography by Evaldas Grižas on Unsplash