MADRID, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Spanish Minister for Energy, Tourism and the Digital Agenda Alvaro Nadal said that Spain will not join in the race to implement the 5G telecommunication technology for the moment, according to local media on Tuesday.
Spain aims to always "have the best digital infrastructure," but for the moment, there is no planned date for the implementation of the 5G technology which is vital for things such as the Internet of Things (IOT), Nadal said at the 31st meeting of the Digital Economy Meeting, held in the Spanish city of Santander.
The El Pais newspaper reported on Tuesday that the only move in Spain towards implementing 5G is a small sum of government appropriation to analyze the benefits of freeing up the 700 MHz bandwidth for 5G use, with the minister highlighting the lack of a common standard for future 5G operators.
Nadal said the government would allow 5G tests to be carried out on the 3.5 GHz bandwidth, and that it was too early to discuss which frequencies would eventually carry these services.
"Without an international standard you can't carry out a complete deployment, but you can make progress with what you've got," said Nadal.
He added that the current priority in Spain was to ensure that the entire country had access to 4G and fixed broadband connectivity, which has so far only covered 70 percent of the nation.
