MOBILE phone and internet operator Vodafone has announced a 5G roll-out starting this Saturday (June 15) in a total of 15 cities in Spain.
According to chief executive António Coimbra, Vodafone is he first network provider to offer 5G in Spain, and Spain is now one of the first countries in Europe to do so.
Vodafone's 5G network means 10 times the capacity, the ability to connect 100 times as many devices, and a download speed of 1 gigabyte per second (Gps).
The firm expects to be able to increase its 5G coverage across the country, outside of major cities, and to double its download speed to 2Gps, within a year.
It is operated through Huawei as core provider and, to a lesser extent and over fewer areas, Ericsson.
No additional cost will apply to mobile phone users, who will be automatically upgraded if they are already on the Vodafone Illimitada Total or Vodafone One Ilimitada Total ('unlimited') packages, although those on cheaper tariffs will need to increase to one of these to enjoy the extra speed and capacity.
At present, the devices Vodafone sells in Spain with 5G automatically included are the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, the LG V50 ThinQ 5G, and the Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 5G.
Although Huawei is the core provider, Huawei phones operated by Vodafone do not include 5G coverage as they are not yet certified to do so, but once 'there are no doubts left concerning these' – referring to Google's Huawei veto – they will also be covered by 5G services, Coimbra assures.
The cities where 5G will be offered from Saturday are Valencia, Málaga, Sevilla, Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza (Aragón), the three Basque Country provincial capitals of San Sebastián, Bilbao and Vitoria, the Galicia cities of Vigo (Pontevedra province) and A Coruña, plus Gijón (Asturias) and the regional capitals of Navarra (Pamplona), Cantabria (Santander), and La Rioja (Logroño).
Also this week, Vodafone has struck a deal with gaming platform Hatch, providing customers on the 'unlimited' tariffs with a year's access to HatchDotLive, and to all others on 5G networks for an additional €7 a month, starting from Monday, June 24.
Photograph: Vodafone Spain on Twitter (@vodafone_es)
