The Government will allocate a budget of more than 1.500 million euros to the development of the Information Society for 2009, as reported by the Ministry of Industry, which indicated that between 2006 and 2008 the Executive contributed 4.500 million euros, of a total funds of 6.614 million, to the convergence plan with Europe (called Avanza).
Industry has indicated that the budget allocated by the Ministry to the Avanza Plan has been increasing progressively in the last three years, with 1.197 million in 2006, 1.539 million in 2007 and 1.794 million in 2008.
Within the framework of said Plan, 174.000 families and 100.000 small and medium-sized businesses benefited from loans at zero percent interest for the acquisition of ICT equipment. In addition, the Ministry has signed 19 framework agreements and 184 economic agendas with the autonomous communities, in addition to granting aid to more than 6.000 entities.
Industry has recalled that the new Plan Avanza 2, which will be launched between 2009 and 2012, plans to create nearly 200.000 direct and indirect qualified jobs, at a rate of about 45.000 per year.
The second edition of the convergence plan will be structured into five axes: developing the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector in small and medium-sized companies; promote the provision of electronic public services to citizens and companies; improve infrastructure for digital television and broadband; promote access to new technologies and generate confidence in the use of ICT.
Currently 23,6 million citizens connect to the Internet, 97% of whom do so through broadband, compared to the 11,7 million users - 50% through broadband - who were connected in 2003.
Regarding the development of new technologies in rural areas, 12 million citizens have training and access to the Internet in this area, thanks to almost 3.000 telecenters and 2.500 connected libraries, according to Government data.