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

Through this project, highlighted dstelecom, “5G coverage will be provided to more than 70 thousand people in this region”, allowing to improve “the quality of life and accessibility of these populations, based on connectivity”.

The company said that the “5G. RURAL” so far, its application covers six municipalities, without specifying which ones, stressing that the consortium intends to make “the project reach other municipalities in Alentejo”.

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

Budgeted at 5.3 million euros, the project, whose promoting consortium includes, in addition to dstelecom, NOS, Innovation Point, and IrRadiare, has 75% co-financing from the European Commission.

“The construction and operationalization of the network will last three years”, he highlighted, highlighting that the consortium “is already working on the development of several solutions for implementing the 5G network in a ‘neutral host’”.

According to the company, the objective is to implement “a scalable solution that integrates the antennas and other necessary components in a sustainable way and integrated into the urban and rural landscape”.

Quoted in the statement, the executive director of dstelecom, Ricardo Salgado, stated that “these solutions are designed to enable interaction with communities”.

“In addition, we want, in the future, to expand the services available in this infrastructure, such as digital kiosks, electric chargers and other additional resources that promote connections with populations”, he highlighted.

Stressing that dstelecom has consolidated itself “in the market as a multi-operator of the fiber network in areas with greater digital needs”, the person in charge admitted that the company has “the ambition to replicate the neutral and sharing business model in 5G and accelerate its implementation in rural areas”.