Telecommunication in Spain

Development of telephone and internet connections

With an average download speed of 168.63 Mbit/second for fixed-network broadband internet, Spain ranks 10th in an international comparison. The upload rate was only 114.09 Mbit/second (7th place).
In mobile internet, i.e., on tablets and smartphones, Spain comes 60th with a download speed of 35.10 Mbit/second. The upload speed of around 10 Mbit was only enough for 86th place.

The Speedtest Global Index published regularly by Ookla is based on several million individual measurements in December 2022 from 178 countries.

The following diagrams show the development of the various telephone and internet connections as a percentage of the country's population. Values above 100 percent mean that, on average, every inhabitant has more than one connection.

Access to the internet in Spain from 1990 - 2021

Broadband internet in Spain 2000 - 2021

The expansion of broadband internet in Spain is roughly on a par with the USA. Around 94 percent of all residents have access to the internet. Around 35 percent have their own fast internet connection, which is at least faster than the former ISDN (more than 256 kbit/s). All fixed connections via DSL, cable or satellite were counted here, but not those connected to the internet via mobile communications. With around 2.5 people per household, this means that around 86.4 percent of all households are equipped with a high-speed internet connection.