In the European Union, 5G also needs a booster. This is the conclusion reached by the European Court of Auditors which published the special report on the deployment of the new standard for mobile networks, hoping for renewed momentum. Member States need to speed up in two respects, the main ones: timing and safety. “Member States have experienced significant delays in the implementation of their 5G networks and this is hindering the achievement of the EU objectives in terms of access and coverage,” it reads. “In parallel, the Court argues, further efforts are needed to address security issues related to the deployment of 5G in a coherent and concerted manner,” the document continues.
Yet, the occasion is tempting. In the 2016 action plan, the European Commission set 2025 as the deadline for the deployment of 5G in all urban areas and all major transport axes. In March last year, it set a further goal: to achieve 5G coverage of the entire EU by 2030. It is estimated that between 2021 and 2025, 5G could increase the gross domestic product of the European Union by an amount amounting to up to € 1 trillion, with a potential for creating or transforming as many as 20 million jobs. We found that only half of the Member States have included their 2025 and 2030 targets in their national 5G strategies. The Commission has helped Member States achieve these goals through multiple initiatives, guidelines and funding. However, it has never clearly defined the expected quality of 5G services. This, the Court points out, could lead to inequalities in the access and quality of 5G services in the European Union, further widening the digital divide.
All Member States (except Cyprus, Lithuania, Malta and Portugal) have reached the 2020 interim target of having at least one large city with access to 5G. However, many countries have fallen behind with the deployment of their 5G networks. The Commission considers that, for 16 of these, the probability of reaching the 2025 target is medium at best and low at worst. For Italy it is high, as for Denmark, Spain, France, Latvia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden.
5G provides many opportunities for growth, but it carries some risks: the limited number of suppliers able to build and operate 5G networks increases the dependence and risks associated with interference by “hostile state actors”.
Suppliers belonging to European Union countries are required to comply with the laws and legal obligations of the European Union. But six of the eight largest suppliers, for example China’s Huawei and South Korea’s Samsung, do not have their headquarters in the European Union. As the Court recalls, evoking the recent geopolitical tensions, in non-EU countries the legislation can differ considerably from European standards, for example in terms of protection of personal data. When 5G security became a major EU concern, the Commission reacted swiftly, the Court notes: the 5G cybersecurity ‘toolbox’ was adopted in January 2020. However, it was already too much late for some mobile network operators who had already chosen their suppliers.
But there is also another security aspect. “Despite the cross-border nature of 5G security concerns, there is little information available to the public on how EU states address security issues, particularly as regards the issue of high-risk suppliers. This makes it difficult for Member States to follow a concerted approach and also limits the possibilities for the Commission to propose improvements to the security of 5G networks ”. The Court, the report reads again, found that in practice, since the measures contained in the toolbox are non-binding, Member States follow divergent approaches regarding the use of equipment from specific suppliers or the extent of restrictions imposed on vendors. high risk. Furthermore, if Member States were to exclude high-risk suppliers (there are few where ad hoc laws are in force, including Italy) from their networks without a transition period being envisaged, this could generate high replacement costs. It is currently unclear whether any compensation for these costs can be considered as state aid, or whether if so it complies with EU competition law.
What if a Member State builds its 5G networks using equipment from a supplier considered high risk in another Member State
So far, the Commission has not assessed the potential impact of this scenario. But, the Court warns, it could affect cross-border security and even the functioning of the European Union’s single market itself.
