5G, beyond 5G, and 6G Activities Promoted by EU Member States

The Member State Initiatives Subgroup (MSI) of the 6G-IA Vision and Societal Challenges WG has released a new report on “5G, beyond 5G, and 6G Activities Promoted by Member States”.

The objective of this document is to report on various activities promoted by Member States, Associated and Candidate Countries which are relevant for the deployment of 5G communication networks and their evolution towards beyond 5G and 6G networks.  The focus is on activities stimulated by National and Regional Ministries, Public Agencies, Regulatory Bodies, Cities, etc.

The Report is available for download here: Member_State_Initiatives_report  FEB 2022

 Summary/Main findings:

The document reports that, as of today, all EU MSs have developed strategies or roadmaps for 5G deployment and their evolution towards B5G/6G networks in the 2020-2025 time frame. In some cases, such as in the case of Nordic countries or in Franco-German calls, transnational collaboration is envisaged to. Notably, additional 5G auctions have been conducted in 2021 (e.g., in Norway) or planned for 2022 (in Belgium, Serbia, Poland, Romania, or the Netherlands, among others). Besides, spectrum auctions for private networks have taken place or are being considered for the 3800 MHz and/or 25 GHz bands (e.g., Sweden, Germany, Norway, Turkey). Consultations are also planned in other countries such as Poland. In addition, some frequency bands for trials and tests, non-commercial use, and R&D activities are also made available free-of-charge and on a temporary basis.

Concerning research activities, several R&D programs on 6G/B5G networks have been launched with the support of EU’s Recovery Funds (e.g., UNICO I+D, Spain; Sustainable Growth Program, Finland); or national funds (e.g., 6G Research Hubs, Germany; Turkey). Complementary to this, other programs have come into light to strengthen telecom network sovereignty or stimulate Important Projects of Common EU Interest (e.g., in France); or boost deployments in hard-to-reach areas or in publicly owned infrastructure (e.g., UK, Italy). Funding aimed to underpin 5G start-ups and SMEs has also been made available in some countries (e.g., Greece, Spain).

The report also discusses how 5G open innovation ecosystems, technological clusters, platforms 5G cities and digital innovation hubs are supported by/planned in many countries (e.g., Finland, Spain, France, Norway, Germany, Netherlands, Turkey, Luxembourg). New initiatives for raising awareness, promoting networking, and know-how exchange such as the Gigabit Academy (Austria), Connecting Tomorrow conference (Luxembourg), the 5GTR Forum (Turkey), or the Strategy for the Promotion of 5G (Spain) are also briefly discussed in the report.”