5G: The EU is Reinventing ’Connectivity’ for the next Decade - Main contents

Today, I am off to Barcelona to the Mobile World Congress. With 80 000 people, it is the largest event of the telecommunication industry and a celebration of technology! Companies use it to point to new technology, and so do we. For the very first time, we have our own booth to show -off the technology we invest a lot and believe in: 5 G.

5G, the next generation of wireless networks, will change the way we communicate and the way we do business. As ‘Connectivity’ becomes more and more ubiquitous, more reliable and offers high speed and higher capacity, it will become the new ‘lifeblood’ of the digital economy and society.

The impact of 5G will extend well beyond telecommunications. It will induce a paradigm shift in a number of existing industries and trigger the emergence of new industries and ecosystems. Communications networks in the 5G era will also have more important societal roles than today: by connecting people, machines and things on a massive scale, it will facilitate the delivery of personalised healthcare and support an ageing society, it will help optimise transports and logistics, it will enhance access to culture and education for all, and it may virtually revolutionise public services.

We in Europe are already embarked on this trailblazing journey. In cooperation with industry, we launched the 5G Public-Private Partnership (5G PPP). The Commission has committed EUR 700 million of funding under the EU’s Horizon 2020 research & innovation programme to accelerate the development of 5G. We are also establishing strategic cooperation agreements with key partners worldwide to achieve a common vision by end 2015 on what should be the main 5G functionalities and the global time table to move from research to deployment.

To achieve all of this, the EU needs strategic investments in infrastructures and the development of innovative services. This is why EU support to research efforts will be complemented by support to private investments through the EUR 315 billion investment plan.

Building on Europe's strong track record in telecommunications technologies which dates back to the invention of the GSM standard, and with the massive efforts we have committed so far, we are confident that Europe has a unique opportunity to become a major player in the 5G era. This is essential because we believe that the communications infrastructure should become the most important of all infrastructures over the next decade, not only for the economy but for society as a whole.

At the press conference on Tuesday, 3 March 2015, at 13.15 hours, we will reveal more on the vision and the road to 5 G. Stay connected via Twitter.

@GOettingerEU