All 28 member states of the European Union and Norway signed a new development and deployment plan for the fifth generation of mobile networks earlier this week. The eight-point plan was presented at a summit in Tallinn, Estonia, with its signees claiming that the partnership will facilitate the process of rolling out 5G technologies on the Old Continent. All of the EU member states and Norway agreed that the necessary spectrum must be available to Internet service providers (ISPs) and other relevant parties in a “timely and predictable manner,” adding that they will also draft a consistent legal framework that will ensure the spectrum is easily manageable and renewable. The plan didn’t provide many specifics on the initiative and failed to elaborate on the new spectrum renewal policies and the actual length of spectrum licenses that over half of all EU member states were strongly opposing earlier this year, signaling that the process of rolling out 5G technologies in Europe may not be as straightforward as Brussels is hoping it will be.
The plan was also co-signed by the United Kingdom that’s currently in the process of leaving the economic bloc, having officially invoked the Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon in late March. As per the conditions of the Treaty of the European Union, the UK will leave the organization by March 29, 2019, which is when 5G technologies are already expected to start being commercialized. It’s currently unclear whether the UK’s signature implies that it’s looking to adhere to the vague points of the newly unveiled plan regardless of its uncertain political future, though the country’s representatives are yet to make any comment to suggest the opposite.
The initiative itself also obliges its signees to support companies looking to spearhead the 5G evolution, in addition to mandating that they streamline their legal frameworks regulating the rollouts of new wireless technologies. The final point of the plan pertains to general collaboration, encouraging the EU member states and Norway to establish effective means of communication between one another and the telecommunications industry in Europe in an effort to collaborate on the commercialization of 5G solutions. The latest turn of events comes shortly after San Marino announced that it’s set to become the first European country with a nationwide 5G network.