A recent report of the European Court of Auditors points the finger the delay taken by the Member States of the European Union in the development of 5G. According to the Luxembourg institution, the countries of the Union must intensify their efforts to accelerate the adoption of 5G. The report suggests that the majority of states will not be able to meet the urban coverage target set for 2025.
The countries of the European Union are moving too slowly
If Member States do not step up their cooperation with the aim of accelerating the take-up of 5G, the European Union could face significant economic and security threats. This is the observation made by the European Court of Auditors in a report published a few days ago. To sum up, the 69-page report raises a double alarm: on the one hand, Europe is lagging behind the countries of North America and Asia with regard to the deployment of 5G networks. On the other hand, the Union must strengthen its strategy to counter the resulting risks.
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According to the findings of experts from the European Court of Auditors, “there are considerable delays in the deployment of 5G networks by Member States”. As the world races to deploy 5G infrastructure, due to its large capacities and higher transmission speeds that promise to transform everything, the countries of the European Union are moving too slowly. According to the European Court of Auditors, most Member States will not be ready in 2025, to ensure uninterrupted 5G coverage in urban areas and along major transport axes.
5G could have brought up to 1,000 billion euros to the European economy
At the same time, current projections suggest that only 35% of all mobile connections in Europe will be based on 5G, compared to 51% in North America, 53% in Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea and 48% in China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. The Court of Auditors considers that the economic advantages lost for the European Union could be very significant. 5G could have brought up to 1,000 billion euros to the European economy and create or transform 2 million jobs between 2021 and 2025. But it is already almost too late to hope to reach such figures.
Such economic rewards require much more spending for 5G. The problem likely stems from differences between member states over the treatment of Chinese 5G providers, such as Huawei, which are accused by the United States of serving the geopolitical ambitions of the Chinese Communist Party. The European Commission has been more cautious than Washington on this subject. The problem of the Union, it is the application of a common policy : National security decisions remain in the hands of member countries.
In an attempt to limit damage, the European Court of Auditors submits an idea to the European Commission. It offers, among other things, “to promote the homogeneous and rapid deployment of 5G networks within the Union, to foster a concerted approach to the security of 5G networks between Member States and to monitor the approaches adopted by Member States with regard to security of 5G networks and to assess the impact of divergences on the effective functioning of the single market”.