Best practices and common elements for national 5G strategies reported by the European Commission
The European Commission has just published a report summarising the best practices and common elements that could be considered for national 5G strategies. The work done with EU Member States covers key issues that range from deployment targets, spectrum and small cells to public financing programmes and 5G innovation support. These findings are useful guidance for Member States in setting appropriate framework conditions and supporting 5G take-up in their countries, fully in harmony with the European perspective. Among recent achievements, 5G auctions in Finland and Italy, publication of draft auction rules by the German regulator BNetzA for the auction planned for beginning of 2019. Publication of a consultation document by the French regulator ARCEP concerning the 5G spectrum auction planned for mid-2019 in France, release of 5G spectrum plans in Spain and Belgium.
The report shows that the two most critical issues appear to be spectrum assignment and facilitating the deployment of small cells.
In spectrum, it is key to ensure that mobile operators and other users get the resources they need to deploy real 5G services. A number of key conditions are addressed in the report that will be important to achieve coverage and quality.
As regards facilitating small cell deployment, it covers a broad set of issues, such as the need for fibre backhaul, options for classification of cells to permit procedures, and related requirements including electro-magnetic field limits are provided. A number of avenues for future work are also outlined, including the planned Implementing Act on small cells pursuant to Article 56 of the Code.
Download the full report here.
