The Repopulation Bus is back on tour this year, and does so for the first time and thanks to the collaboration of Hispasat, the Spanish communications satellite operator of the Red Eléctrica Group, using satellite technology that enables it to broadcast the reality of rural Spain live from the locations where it stops. With the slogan "Rural life is cutting edge", the bus becomes a mobile television set.

This initiative by the El Hueco association thus reinforces the communication aspects of its summer tour. To this end, it is launching Presura TV, an audiovisual platform that will be supported by Hispasat for the live broadcast of its contents via broadband internet. The telecommunications operator has facilitated the installation of a terminal for satellite communications with its corresponding technical equipment and will provide a managed connectivity service using the space capacity of its Hispasat 30W-6 satellite, located in the 30º West orbital position.

In this second edition, in addition to technology, the tour will feature experts, entrepreneurs, communicators, musicians and painters who will participate in its programmes to show that the rural environment can be at the forefront of art, culture, technology or even new social habits.

With all this, "this year we are reinforcing our participation in this initiative which we consider to be of enormous importance to continue promoting rural life and fighting against depopulation", said Beatriz Corredor, Chairwoman of the Red Eléctrica Group, during the Presura Tour 2020 presentation ceremony. She added, "Our commitment to the development of rural Spain is firm and we are contributing to it through the co-creation of shared value. We are experiencing a period of global transition that will only be possible through sustainability and this must be, without doubt, an opportunity for the rural world" concludes Corredor.

The director of the Presura fair, Joaquín Alcalde, points out: "there is no better way of getting the message of “Rural life is cutting edge” across than from a museum like the Reina Sofía". And he affirms that, "now is time to bring in artists, philosophers, thinkers, intellectuals... into the story of an optimistic rural Spain with a great future ahead of it".

Today, connectivity is a basic and indispensable asset for promoting economic and social development and to ensure the progress and well-being of people. Although Spain is a leader in fibre deployment in Europe, there are still rural areas that lack quality connectivity. In these areas, satellite is the most appropriate technological solution to extend Internet access, complementing terrestrial networks, since its coverage reaches the entire Spanish territory, regardless of distance or geographical obstacles, and the deployment of its service is very fast.

This tour will be able, among other things, to highlight the advantages of satellites to bring connectivity to these points, offering new opportunities to their inhabitants and boosting the growth and activity of these regions.

Presura Tour Summer – Autumn 2020

The presentation of the Repopulation Bus, held at the Reina Sofia Museum, is the starting point of the Presura Tour Summer – Autumn 2020. Sponsored mainly by the Red Eléctrica Group, the bus will travel over 10,000 kilometres to more than 40 towns in 17 provinces of Spain until October, to encourage repopulation and rural development through the promotion of social innovation initiatives.

The event was also attended by the General Secretary for the Demographic Challenge, Elena Cebrián, and the Chief Executive Officer of Hispasat, Miguel Ángel Panduro, among other representatives of the sponsoring entities.

The Red Eléctrica Group is supporting this tour for the second consecutive year in order to promote the 4th Fair for the Repopulation of Rural Spain, Presura20, which will be held next November, focusing on the fight to reverse depopulation and to promote dynamics of change in the rural environment that promote sustainable, supportive and ecological development, and also to correct the great imbalances that currently exist between rural and urban worlds.