Neighboring communities will be able to request aid for the restoration of DTT starting on the 26th.

Over the next few months, around 850,000 collective housing buildings will have to make adaptations to their television signal reception systems.

He September 26 The deadline is open for neighborhood communities that assume a cost as a result of the Second Digital Dividend to claim a financial subsidy.

The Second Digital Dividend is a process, started last July in Spain, by which some digital terrestrial television (DTT) channels will change their broadcast frequency to give up that space to the deployment of future 5G connectivity networks.

So that citizens can continue enjoying the full DTT offer, over the next few months, around 850,000 collective housing buildings will have to make adaptations to their television signal reception systems.

This adaptation requires the action of a telecommunications installer registered in the database of the Secretary of State for Digital Advancement.

It will not be necessary to make this adaptation in single-family homes and smaller community buildings. Likewise, buildings in Asturias, Barcelona, ​​A Coruña, Menorca, Melilla and part of the provinces of Toledo and Murcia will not be affected by the change in national and regional frequencies.

To minimize the impact of this process on citizens, the Council of Ministers approved by Royal Decree on June 21 the direct granting of grants worth up to 145 million euros, which will be managed by the public company Red.es. The call for aid will be published on September 25 and the period for receiving applications will open the following day. The amounts of this subsidy range between 104.3 euros and 677.95 euros per building, depending on the DTT signal reception infrastructure previously installed.

Regardless of the type of signal reception equipment in buildings, all citizens must subsequently retune their televisions.

This process, identical to that produced during the First Digital Dividend in 2014 and 2015, will not imply the appearance or disappearance of television channels (they simply move frequencies). Likewise, it should be noted that this process will not lead to the obsolescence of televisions or DTT decoders.

Calendar

The release of the Second Digital Dividend is taking place in a phased manner in most of the national territory. The first areas to start switching on new DTT frequencies, last July, were Mallorca, Ibiza, Formentera, 94 municipalities in the north of the province of Cáceres and 24 municipalities in the south of the province of Huelva.

Throughout the month of September, the provinces of Almería, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, Córdoba, most of the municipalities of Albacete, Álava, Huesca, Lugo, Málaga, Segovia, Soria, Teruel, Valladolid, Zaragoza, Granada and Huelva, as well as some towns from 14 other Spanish provinces, are expected to join. Citizens will be progressively informed of these and the following areas in which the DTT channels will change frequency.

The release of the Second Digital Dividend will be completed before June 30, 2020, thus complying with the calendar established by the European Union and with the Roadmap published by the Ministry of Economy and Business in 2018. Therefore, all re-televisioning and retuning of televisions must have been carried out prior to that date.

Thanks to this process, as of June 30, 2020, the 700 MHz band will be fully available in Spain for the provision of services associated with fifth-generation mobile telephony, within the National 5G Plan. The commitment to place Spain among the leading countries in the development of this technology is thus maintained. 5G connectivity will boost the competitiveness of the business fabric, facilitate the emergence of disruptive business models and provide citizens with new innovative technological solutions.

All information about the Second Digital Dividend is available in the website and through the telephone service numbers 901 20 10 04 and 91 088 98 79.