Vodafone brings 4G to 80 largest cities in Spain

Vodafone Spain has announced that starting on 01 April customers will have 4G coverage in all 54 provincial capitals in Spain, as well as in the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa. In total, 4G services will be available in over 220 localities, including the 80 Spanish cities with over 70,000 inhabitants. According to the operator, its 4G coverage in the 8 largest cities in Spain now reaches 90 percent of the population outdoors, while in the 32 largest cities the figure exceeds 80 percent. Vodafone has also reinforced its 4G coverage in areas with high-density traffic, including 12 airports throughout the country, 10 train stations, 30 large-scale venues and 20 football stadiums.

The operator added that it had used the 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz spectrum bands for the 4G deployment as it continued to wait for the government to free up the 800 MHz frequencies currently used by TV stations. Once that band is available, the indoor coverage of its LTE network would be substantially improved. Vodafone also referred to latest ultrafast LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) trials it has been running in the Nuevos Ministerios business area of Madrid, which have delivered sustained speeds of more than 280 Mbps. The company said it would be making LTE-A commercially available in Madrid and Barcelona “in the coming quarters” to coincide with the first LTE-A-compatible devices to hit the markets.

According to Ismael Asenjo, head of network at Vodafone Spain, the accelerated 4G rollout was part of Vodafone’s Project Spring spending programme, which envisaged a EUR 650 million investment in Spain over the next two years. Asenjo commented that the company had brought forward its objective by 12 months, and that its 4G network will have reached 50 percent of the Spanish population in April 2014 rather than in April 2015, as initially scheduled.