The consortium's ambition is to guarantee the implementation of a range of 5G-based use cases in remote areas of the Alentejo by 2026, in areas such as health, education, energy, agriculture, tourism, art and culture.

The 5G network will reach 70,000 people in remote areas of the Alentejo by 2026, thanks to a project led by the company dstelecom, involving an investment of 5.3 million euros, with European co-financing.

Called "5G.RURAL - 5G for rural smart communities of tomorrow", the project is the result of a consortium led by dstelecom, the company (a wholesaler in the telecommunications market) said today in a statement sent to the Lusa news agency.

The consortium "has the ambition to guarantee, by 2026, the implementation of a range of use cases based on 5G in remote areas of the Alentejo, in areas such as health, education, energy, agriculture, tourism, art and culture", it said.

Through this project, dstelecom stressed, "5G coverage will be provided to more than 70,000 people in this region", making it possible to improve "the quality of life and accessibility of these populations, based on connectivity".

The company said that the "5G. RURAL" project so far covers six municipalities, without specifying which ones, stressing that the consortium intends to "extend the project to other municipalities in Alentejo".

According to the telecommunications wholesaler, the project was approved under the Digital pillar of the CEF (Connecting Europe Facility), under the "5G for Smart Communities" measure, along with nine other proposals in Europe.

Budgeted at 5.3 million euros, the project, whose promoter consortium includes, in addition to dstelecom, NOS, Innovation Point and IrRadiare, is 75% co-financed by the European Commission.

"The construction and operationalization of the network will take three years," he said, noting that the consortium "is already working on the development of various solutions for implementing the 5G network in a neutral host".

According to the company, the aim is to implement "a scalable solution that integrates the antennas and other necessary components in a sustainable and integrated way in the landscape", both urban and rural.

Quoted in the statement, dstelecom's executive director, Ricardo Salgado, said that "these solutions are designed to enable interaction with communities".

"In addition, in the future we want to expand the services available on this infrastructure, such as digital kiosks, electric chargers and other additional resources that promote connection with the population," he said.

Emphasizing that dstelecom has established itself "in the market as a multi-operator of the fibre network in areas with the greatest digital shortages", he admitted that the company has "the ambition to replicate the neutral and sharing business model in 5G and accelerate its implementation in rural areas".

Founded in 2008, dstelecom is a wholesale company in the telecommunications market, which built and still operates "Europe's first and largest multi-operator fiber optic network in areas where there is a greater digital shortage in Portugal".

This "digital highway passes through more than 145 municipalities in Portugal and all the telecommunications operators in the country make their services available to the end consumer through this fiber optic network," he added.

dstelecom closed 2023 with coverage of more than 800,000 homes.

Source: Dinheiro Vivo