Working remotely; carrying out tasks via a keyboard; making a doctor's appointment with a mobile phone; starting a business from home. Everyday tasks that a large part of the population is already accustomed to. It is so common that many no longer even value the possibility of having the world at their fingertips just by turning on their device and connecting to the Internet. The further away from large cities, the more exceptional this reality is. Large populations not only have access to high-speed connections like fiber optics, but they can also choose from a multitude of operators that offer it. It is different in small municipalities: these operators would not obtain economic profitability there, so access to fiber is usually a privilege in certain towns.
Xarxa Oberta de Catalunya (XOC) combats this reality and makes fiber optics available to municipalities that other operators would not reach. The Generalitat promoted the project with the intention of providing the Govern with a neutral telecommunications network based on fiber optics in 2010. The objective? To connect 745 Generalitat offices. And it set out to do so in "the most capillary way possible," according to XOC manager, Jordi Tortosa. Thus, instead of opting to contract services from external operators to connect its offices, the Govern decided to deploy its own fiber, through XOC. "The Generalitat had a vision back then, and it directly impacts the territory," proclaims Tortosa.
The network promotes competition in the most disadvantaged areas in terms of telecommunications servicesThe option of deploying its own network was initially more expensive than resorting to third-party operators, but the Govern proposed the project to make it profitable. It articulated it in such a way that the surplus capacity of the network is made available to the wholesale market of operators. This system has facilitated the emergence of small operators, who have been created and "have modernized thanks to initiatives like this." By offering high-bandwidth services to this wholesale market, XOC has fostered the creation of a new generation fiber network in Catalonia.
In this way, it promotes competition in the most disadvantaged areas in terms of telecommunications services, and brings fiber connectivity to municipalities that operators would not reach on their own. Specifically, the network has active services in nearly 300 municipalities. For regulatory reasons, its scope of action is limited to 483, having incorporated public assets in its creation. Of these municipalities, XOC reaches 298. These are those where the Generalitat has one of the 745 headquarters that the network connects, or towns through which the fiber directed to these headquarters passes. If the infrastructure and the network allow it, the transit municipality is also connected, but it is not always technically possible.
Public-private collaboration
Through its operation, XOC has its revenues guaranteed through the connection of the Generalitat's headquarters, and records variable revenues based on its wholesale activity. Tortosa emphasizes that this is an example of public-private collaboration, and that XOC is an administrative concession of the Centre de Telecomunicacions de la Generalitat de Catalunya (CTTI), and since 2018 it belongs to the Cellnex group, the main telecommunications infrastructure operator in Europe.
"Public-private collaboration works very well and precisely allows providing connectivity solutions in the territory, in areas where, if it were not done this way, it would not be done," adds Tortosa, who highlights that the network serves homes, businesses and operators: "All this is needed for the country to be connected."
More population and less unemployment
This connectivity favors territorial cohesion and eliminates distance as a differentiating and disadvantageous element. And it achieves this by providing high-quality connection solutions in low-density population areas. Thus, the network aims to advance in equal opportunities and boost the economic fabric and social progress in Catalonia, structuring the territory. "When a territory is connected, it largely enables economic activity and fixes the population in the place," highlights Tortosa.
Furthermore, the network contributes to reducing the unemployment rate, as indicated by the Study on the Evaluation of the Impact of the Digital Infrastructure Plan in Catalonia. Prepared in 2021 by the University of Barcelona (UB), the research also points out that the increase in fiber optic coverage contributes to increasing the inhabitants of municipalities: a 1% rise in coverage brings 0.4% more population. The study concludes that the deployment of XOC fiber has improved social well-being and has offered a good return to society in accordance with the resources dedicated. Specifically, it indicates that, for every public euro invested in the network, society receives a net return of 12.38 euros.
The increase in fiber optic coverage contributes to increasing the inhabitants of municipalitiesXOC's activity is complemented by the fiber deployed directly by the Generalitat through a project it promoted after the pandemic. The Govern launched a plan to connect all regional capitals and other municipalities with its own fiber, but this draws on XOC's infrastructure. "It branches out like a tree: XOC built the first section of the trunk and the main branches, while the Generalitat deploys other sections of the trunk and the small ramifications", dso that one project complements the other, according to Tortosa. This global network of the Generalitat exceeds 5,200 kilometers of public fiber optic, through an initiative to which some 100 million euros have been allocated. The Government's objective is to connect 98% of the Catalan population by 2024, through 7,000 kilometers of fiber.
From macro to micro
XOC provides these services also pursuing another objective: to provide connection to the large data processing centers that are being implemented in Catalonia, such as the Barcelona Cable Landing Station (CLS). The submarine telecommunications cable landing station operates since October 2022 from Sant Adrià de Besòs as an interconnection center and a great gateway to the Internet. XOC has recently incorporated this node as a new point in its network. In this way, it connects "the macro with the micro", making the best connections available to the inhabitants of small municipalities. "If one wanted, they could connect from Llavorsí to the submarine cable, and go out to the rest of the world" with the speed it provides and without the need to resort to intermediaries. In addition to the CLS, XOC has identified more than fifteen Datacenters in Catalonia: it currently has 13 connected and another three in project.
The network promotes these connections with the aim of bringing the connectivity ecosystem generated by these cutting-edge centers, mostly located in the Barcelona metropolis, closer to the entire Catalan territory. Thus, small municipalities, rural areas and scattered populations that no operator would reach are connected to the most powerful facilities and networks, contributing to territorial cohesion and equality and structuring the whole of Catalan towns and cities.