Experts in demographics, sociologists, economists, and technologists all agree: Connectivity can be a determining factor in halting the population slump in rural areas. Not only can excellent connectivity promote economic development and foster startups, it can even encourage new business in the regions that cannot be considered tech hubs.

Having access to quality connectivity in locations far from capital cities can also represent an incentive when it comes to starting a family, accepting or creating remote jobs, and attracting young talent away from cities. Those looking for less stress, a more relaxed lifestyle, and lower costs still need a connection to the Internet. Hence the use of 5G, satellite connectivity, and other connection modes are crucial to de-urbanisation and other issues.

So, how does bad connection affect people? Who is worst affected by lacking connectivity? Consider first, agriculture and schools.

Bad connections hinder agriculture and livestock

Industry 4.0 depends directly on connectivity, automation, and the full development of IoT (the Internet of things). Agricultural and livestock business models are no different. Agriculture wants to bet on digitization in order to optimise operations and farm management. So what happens when connectivity is unreliable?

Interesting projects are already underway to prove IoT access is both crucial and inevitable. Businesses that want to take a step forward need Big Data applications and remote energy management. This might extend to crop monitoring with artificial intelligence (AI), herd geolocation and tracking, and real-time pesticide-free spraying using high-powered lasers that AI manages. Even the use of autonomous tractors in harvesting is on the horizon.

The examples are countless, but all these projects depend on stable connectivity, low latency, and sufficient bandwidth for data transmission across expansive geographies. This needs to be strengthened rurally, not only in locations where the connection is already robust.

Communities and towns built around schools with 5G

Reducing the demographic gap in rural areas must include supporting young couples and families. This means reaching children in their schools. But educational institutions in many rural areas of, sometimes called Empty Spain, barely have the resources and enough students to keep their doors open. 5G is not high on their list of priorities, but it should be.

Improving the connection capacity in educational centres through 5G technology transcends the commonplace goal to provide them with “faster Internet”. With appropriate connectivity, schools and institutions could use mobile devices to:

• Design more attractive and up-to-date teaching dynamics
• Expand the flow of information and resources so that students get more out of classes
• Facilitate school leadership to design collaboration dynamics with other educational institutions

Given this access, teachers could share materials and even give classes remotely, or share their knowledge in other classrooms via videoconference or perhaps, one day, via hologram.

Political commitment to connectivity resources for demographic cohesion

In addition to those made for better connectivity in agriculture and education, similar arguments could be made for crucial economic development industries, such as tourism. Moreover, a reliable connection to the Internet is essential for health services. Across so many industries, connectivity is key.

Now that the government is aware of its importance, programs have been launched such as the UNICO Rural Demand Plan. This promotes broadband surpassing 100 Mbps for end users, financed by vouchers of €35 per month to facilitate access to 5G or rapid Internet.

Moreover, this plan allocated practically 10% of its budget from the Recovery, Transformation and Economic Resilience Plan, which is approximately €10 billion, to developing 130 policies that relate to 10 strategic axes. In plain English, these axes seek to “guarantee equal rights in matters such as the provision of services, gender equality, and the elimination of social gaps, as well as generate opportunities for entrepreneurship, promote economic activity in areas that most struggle to compete in globalised markets,” according to their spokesperson.