The European Commission warned last year that its aim to connect all EU households to 5G by 2030 are off target.
Europe’s 5G standalone coverage is significantly lagging behind the US and Asia, according to a report published on Tuesdayby telecom lobby Connect Europe.
In Europe, the coverage of standalone 5G – which operates independently from existing 4G infrastructure and is used for industrial purposes – is at 40%, while it reaches 91% of the population in North America, and 45% in Asia Pacific, the report finds on the basis of research conducted by consulting firm Analysys Mason.
Meanwhile non-standalone 5G networks in Europe reached 87% of the population in 2023, up from 80% the previous year, while comparable figures from South Korea (99%), the US (98%), Japan (97%), and China (90%) were all higher.
In 2021 the European Commission set a target for all EU households connected to 5G by 2030.
However, Renate Nikolay, deputy director-general at the commission’s digital unit, already warned last year that the EU is still behind in connectivity, despite efforts to speed up the roll-out of high-capacity networks, compared to other regions in the world.
The low roll-out means that other technologies that are dependent on fast internet, such as artificial intelligence, will face delays in uptake.
The Connect Europe report estimates that by the end of this decade more than 8% of the EU population – some 45.4 million people – will still be without access to a fixed gigabit connection.
Investment drop
At the same time, the bloc’s telecom sector saw a 2% drop in investment in 2023, when it fell to €57.9 billion from €59.1 billion in the previous year, the report says.
Against this backdrop the European Commission is set to publish a proposal to overhaul telecom rules – the Digital Networks Act – during this mandate.
The plan, set to be published next year, is meant to address problems with connectivity, spectrum and investment. It was spearheaded by former Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, who himself was a former CEO of France Telecom.
Henna Virkkunen, EU Commissioner for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, has been tasked by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with “working on a new Digital Networks Act, to help boost secure high-speed broadband, both fixed and wireless”, according to her mission letter.