Major Telecom Overhaul in Progress
The Centre de Telecomunicacions i Tecnologies de la Informació (CTTI), the public body managing IT and telecommunications for the Generalitat of Catalonia, has confirmed six formal bids for a €376 million contract to modernise the region’s public digital infrastructure. This is the largest telecom procurement in the Generalitat’s history. The contract will reshape connectivity for government offices, hospitals, schools, and police stations, focusing on reducing data costs, enhancing cybersecurity, and ensuring high-capacity network performance.
Bidders Include Major Operators and Alliances
Three individual companies have submitted solo bids: Telefónica, Sirt, and Econocom. The remaining three proposals come from consortia involving Deutsche Telekom, Orange, and Nunsys. The structure of the tender includes multiple lots, with a central €206 million portion dedicated to deploying and managing institutional data networks across Catalan public entities.
This tender will define the technological backbone of Catalonia’s public administration for years to come.
Legal Challenges Cast Shadow Over Process
The bidding process unfolds amid ongoing legal disputes over previous CTTI contracts. A prior award for the XCAT fibre optic network, valued at €127 million and intended to connect 5,000 public sites, was granted to a joint venture between Sirt and Connecta using Huawei equipment. Telefónica challenged the decision after its appeal was rejected by the Catalan Public Sector Contracts Tribunal, and the case is now before the courts. Separately, the CTTI launched another tender in late June 2026, designated CTTI-2026-116, with a base budget of €124 million, extendable to €223.6 million. This covers equipment supply, licensing, network projects, and cybersecurity maintenance over an initial two-year period.
Next Steps: Technical and Financial Review
The CTTI procurement board is now beginning the evaluation of all six bids, assessing both technical and financial proposals. The outcome will set a benchmark for digital infrastructure projects across Spain’s regional administrations. Residents and public sector workers will see direct improvements in digital service reliability and security once the new network is implemented, though no timeline for final award or rollout has been published. The evaluation phase is under close scrutiny from industry observers and legal stakeholders alike.
Primary sources: Exa, govern.cat, eb.gencat.cat, Centre de Telecomunicacions i Tecnologies de la Informació. Reported by russpain.com, Ramón Muñoz, expansion.com, Blanca Gispert, europapress.es, elmundo.es, www.ETTelecom.com.
