Viewpoint: Europe’s 5G rollout needs to pick up pace

Europe's rollout of 5G telecoms infrastructure has continued this year despite Covid-19 disruptions, but progress will need to accelerate if the region is to catch up and compete with major markets in Asia-Pacific and the US.

At a global level, market participants estimate that Covid-19 has only delayed 5G rollouts by around a year — such is the strength of appetite for next generation communications and their multi-dimensional implications, particularly in the pandemic-era of increased digital reliance. China has bounced back from its lockdown-induced slowdown, with shipments of 5G mobile phones accounting for 68.1pc of its total phone shipments in November at 20.136mn units — the sixth consecutive month that market share has exceeded 60pc, according to China's academy of information and communications.

But progress in Europe has been a little more sedate, with many observers concerned that key targets are yet to be hit. The GSM Association (GSMA) — which represents over 1,000 mobile operators and other related companies — estimates that 5G adoption in China will account for 47pc of mobile connections by 2025, with North America slightly ahead at 48pc but Europe lagging behind at 34pc. That anticipated lag in part stems from Europe's slower buildout of 4G infrastructure, with 4G accounting for just 58pc of the continent's mobile connections in 2019, compared with 83pc in China and 82pc in North America.

The arrival of 5G is already having wide-ranging implications for metal applications, touching on areas including energy storage, batteries, semiconductors and data transmission. In the past year, multiple companies involved in telecoms and electronics pushed to advance technologies to unlock the potential of 5G, such as the continued development of gallium-nitride and gallium-arsenide compound semiconductors.

In September, the European Round Table for Industry (ERT) — which represents around 55 major companies involved in industry and technology — issued stark warnings that the continent is lagging other regions in 5G commercialisation and infrastructure. "Only a third of EU countries had assigned mid-band spectrum by spring 2020, a performance far behind South Korea, China and others. We have to do better," the ERT said.

In particular, it highlighted the fragmented approach taken by European countries, with the European Commission having previously urged each EU member state to submit its own 5G roadmap by the end of 2020.

"To close the gap we urgently need a ‘European deal' to roll out 5G — one which delivers a more harmonised approach to 5G spectrum, assignment and operation and better regulatory incentives for private investment," ERT chief executive Martin Lundstedt said. "5G is at the heart of our digital future — and digital will empower energy transition, innovation and a whole new world of employment opportunities. It is vital to the success of the EU Green Deal. Everything is connected — that's why this is such a fundamental part of the equation."

Europe is also grappling with security concerns surrounding some Chinese 5G telecoms companies. Last month, the UK published its draft Telecommunications Security Bill, which enshrines the exclusion of equipment from Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE from UK 5G telecom networks, and calls for supply chain diversification to prevent reliance on one or two suppliers.

If the bill is passed, it will require operators to remove equipment from "high risk" vendors — notably Huawei and ZTE — from UK 5G networks by 2027. It also raises questions about diversification and where collaboration will be needed to move the country's 5G rollout forward, with Sweden's Ericsson and Finland's Nokia the world's only other large 5G telecom vendors.

Next generation communications will need spectrum across all bands — low-band (sub-1GHz) for widespread coverage; mid-band (1-6GHz), which provides a balance of coverage, capacity and performance; and the most technically challenging millimetre-wave (above 25GHz and moving to >150GHz), needed to achieve multi-gigabyte data rates.

By Ellie Saklatvala

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