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Antonia Holgado, 82, with her smartphone.
Benarrabá, a digital village

Benarrabá, a digital village

The village in the Genal valley has updated its internet service and created a co-working space to combat the problem of depopulation

VANESSA MELGAR

Friday, 4 June 2021, 14:49

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There are two speeds in Benarrabá: in the real world the pace of life is slow, but in the digital version it is fast. People in this small village in the Genal Valley proudly preserve their traditional way of life (which has been renamed as a 'slow' philosophy) but they also navigate the internet at a dizzying speed, thanks to the fibre optic which was fully installed in the municipality over two years ago.

This technology, compared with copper wire and the now ancient ADSL, which is still used in places where fibre cannot reach, offers up to 1 symmetric Gbps, and this has improved the running of businesses, facilitated online classes, practically removed the need to visit the town hall for administrative matters, allowed people to work from home, helped others to move to the village, and even made up for the lack of a bank, because the local branch of Unicaja only opens one day a week.

These are all advantages which put paid to the idea that living in a village means putting up with a bad internet connection. In Benarrabá it is fast, with greater bandwidth, better video and audio quality, less interference and better security.

For the people of Benarrabá, the cuts in the service, the breakdowns that lasted for days, the long waits in front of the computer or other device to download or upload data or connect to a website, the frozen videocalls and, among other problems, the poor mobile phone coverage, have become a thing of the past, because fibre optic enables the advance of wireless networks (at present Benarrabá has 4G and is awaiting 5G).

"This is essential. Having fibre brings us closer to things because we are physically far away from infrastructure and services. Being able to connect to the internet at any time and be guaranteed an effective service is the solution that villages need," says the mayor, Silvestre Barroso, who is convinced that the strategy to combat depopulation lies in improving digitalisation. "Repairing roads, improving spaces, enhancing tourist visits... all that is fine, but it is essential to be able to offer a good internet connection so people can work, attend online classes, make businesses more competitive and also attract new residents and stop those that are already here from leaving," he says.

That is why, when the engineers from Telefónica (the service is offered by different operators, but this was the company chosen in this case) came to Benarrabá to start the installation, the town hall assigned two council employees to help them.

"The installation only took two weeks. Local people were already signing up, while it was being installed," says Barroso, who also explains that the Telefónica infrastructure close to the village also helped to facilitate the installation. He is also keen to point out that Benarrabá coped better with the pandemic because of its speedy internet.

The town hall, which now functions almost 100 per cent digitally, has also organised classes on the use of the internet, especially for elderly residents of the village, who had the opportunity to learn how to use digital banking.

Antonio Santos

"Move here without fibre? It would be impossible"

Antonio Santos lives in Benarrabá. He works in the billing department of the multinational SYNLAB, which has a presence in 40 countries, employs 22,000 staff and specialises in medical diagnostics, with laboratory services for human and veterinary medicine and environmental analysis. Along with his partner, who is a teacher in a school in another village, and their 22-month-old son, Antonio is a new arrival to the village.

At the height of the pandemic they decided to move to the village, where he has family, and thanks to the fibre internet they have decided to stay. "I work from home three weeks a month and in the fourth I go to the office, in Fuengirola. We have been here about 15 months now. It's a wonderful experience. I can be with my baby and when I have finished work for the day I can enjoy my surroundings," he says. "It would be impossible to move here without fibre. With it, you have the same technology as you would have in Madrid, Fuengirola or Malaga. It works very well, it's brilliant," he adds.

Co-working, in a modernised 18th-century building

  • The road that Benarrabá has taken to digitalisation will not end with the installation of fibre optic internet. Probably by this summer it will have a coworking space which will be unique in Malaga province because it will be in an old house dating back to 1700 which belonged to the Ortega Collado family and was donated by their heirs to the local council. Following the modernisation works, in which the Malaga provincial authority invested 250,000 euros, this will be somewhere that business owners and others can use to impart information, host group events or simply surf the internet.

  • The property, which is right in the heart of the village, will have room for 70 people on its three floors. Traditional architectural features of the house have been carefully preserved.

  • Benarrabá also has hotel accommodation for visitors, such as the Banu Rabbah hotel and the Benarrabá Hostel, among others.

Mercedes Méndez

"It's really fast"

Mercedes Méndez runs the Banu Rabbah hotel, which includes the Kábilas restaurant. It opened in the 1990s and has 12 double rooms, with extra beds available, and other facilities, such as rooms for celebrations and events. "I have always tried to have a good connection, but you really notice the speed now," she says. The hotel relies on the service. "I use it for everything: advertising, reservations, suppliers... I'd be completely lost without it," she explains.

Eder Aguinaco

"I rely on it because I play a lot of videogames"

Eder Aguinaco, who is 29, works in administration at the town hall and is a great fan of videogames, so he enjoys his leisure time even more now that fibre has arrived. "I play a lot and I needed a better connection," says this gamer, who has a law degree. "You really notice the speed. Before we had fibre the connection wasn't that bad, but it was more unreliable. For example, if one person at home was watching a video and the other was gaming, you used to notice the difference, but not any more. I usually use the internet for videocalls with friends and training courses," he says.

Antonia Harillo and Antonia Holgado

"I even use my mobile phone to pray the Rosary nowadays "

Friends Antonia Harillo and Antonia Holgado, aged 79 and 82 respectively, are examples of how the new technologies are suitable for any age. They never imagined that they would have smartphones. "I even use my mobile phone to pray the Rosary," says Antonia Harillo. "My grandchildren come and they are on them all the time. I often use WhatsApp with them and my daughter, who lives away, sends me lots of photos."

Antonia Holgado agrees. "I was a bit confused at first, but I understand it all now. During the lockdown it was a great help. My daughters used to videocall me every evening . That meant a lot to elderly people. I spent 60 days inside my house, without ever going outside," she says.

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