The initiative is part of the project consortium “5G.RURAL - 5G for rural smart communities of tomorrow”, led by the company dstelecom, and will be presented at an event at the Portalegre Tapestry Museum.

In a statement, dstelecom explained that this is “an innovative project” at the national and European levels.

“Although developed and implemented in Portugal, it aims to create a set of methodologies that aim to revolutionise broadband connectivity, not only in rural areas in Portugal but also to replicate the concept at the European level, in alignment with the European strategy of expanding access to broadband in insufficiently supplied areas”, he highlighted.

With regard to Portugal, according to the company, the project “has, for now, the ambition of guaranteeing, by 2026, the implementation of a range of use cases based on 5G in remote areas of the Alentejo”.

In this way, it will be possible to bring 5G “to more than 70,000 people in this region”, which will improve “the quality of life and accessibility of these populations, through connectivity", highlighted dstelecom.

The project is budgeted at 5.3 million euros, with 75% co-financing from community funds.

In addition to dstelecom, the consortium brings together the companies NOS, Innovation Point (dstgroup company) and IrRadiare.