This workshop will be an opportunity to review the main findings of the third year of the 5G Observatory and to exchange views on the current state of play of 5G deployment as well as the latest market trends and global developments. It will also take stock of where we are in Europe when it comes to the targets of the 5G Action Plan and the Digital Decade strategy.

The virtual Workshop

The third stakeholder workshop "European 5G Observatory – 5G in the Digital Decade" will take place as an online event on Thursday, 18 November 2021 from 10:00-14:30.

This workshop is open to all stakeholders interested in 5G, including telecom operators and suppliers, national authorities in charge of telecom and spectrum policy and regulation, as well as representatives of the vertical industries looking at the use of 5G for their use cases.

The workshop will be organised fully remotely, like the 2020 edition.  Registrations are already open, and a draft agenda is already available for download.

The 5G Observatory

The European 5G Observatory was launched in September 2018 to monitor market developments and preparatory actions taken by industry stakeholders and Member States in the context of 5G roll-out in Europe and beyond. It has enabled the Commission to assess the progress of Europe's 5G Action Plan and take actions to implement it.

The 5G Observatory online platform provides the latest news and key trends in 5G deployment in Europe and world-wide and its quarterly reports provide snapshots, including scoreboards, of 5G progress, as well as an assessment in view of the objectives of the 5G Action Plan.

The proceedings of the Workshop

The first session - What has been achieved - will discuss how the 5G AP targets have been fulfilled and what we have learned, given that 5G is now reality in almost all the EU Member States. It will also consider the current state of play of 5G deployment in Europe and globally, as well as the latest market trends.

IDATE, which conducted the first two phases of the European 5G Observatory study for the Commission until June 2021, will present the main findings during the third year of the study and provide an overview of the progress towards the 5G Action Plan targets.

A panel session will follow on challenges and opportunities for Europe in the next few years as well as on the priorities to be addressed for different areas of 5G policy in light of global developments.

The second session in the afternoon - 5G in the Digital Decade - will focus on the way forward, discussing priorities in light of the assessment of the 5G Action Plan and of the Digital Decade process. An overview of feedback from targeted stakeholder surveys concerning 5G in the Digital Decade will be provided by the Commission, and the new study contractor, VVA supported by Policy Tracker and LS Telcom, will present their initial plans for the European 5G Observatory Phase III.

In particular, the panel session will discuss the envisaged trajectory towards the new target of full 5G coverage in all populated areas by 2030, and complementary indicators to be monitored in the third phase of the study. It will also discuss promising areas of 5G policy to enable the investment during the recovery and throughout this decade.