Communities across the EU can now apply to deploy standalone 5G connectivity to support innovative applications in public services, schools, hospitals, transport networks and energy management.

Today, a fast and high performing network can allow students to access an increasingly personalised education and patients to receive tailored assistance and treatment online. Similarly, villages, rural communities or cities can increase the efficiency of their health system or public transport and preserve resources for a more sustainable future. It all starts with equipping the communities with consistently fast, responsive and reliable connectivity.  

The Commission launched a call to support 5G innovative applications for public services in towns across the EU. The funding, coming from the recently adopted Connecting Europe Facility – Digital Programme, intends to cover the deployment of 5G infrastructure elements required to implement innovations in services that are essential for citizens’ daily lives. These could mean high performance networks for a digital education ecosystem or for a health centre wishing to implement electronic health records, real time medical imaging and patient health monitoring.

The call for proposals are open to telecom operators, who, in applying for the call, should be joined by public administrations and entities providing public services to act as users of the deployed connectivity. The focus of the call is to fund elements of 5G infrastructure that will enable innovative use cases like smart health, smart education or any service of general interest. The programme aims to reach those communities where high-quality 5G services are not yet available. The projects are required to involve local public administrations and services of general interest as providers of the use cases.

The call for proposals is open until 22 March 2022.

Interested applicants can attend an online info day to learn more about the call.

For more information, see here.