European Commission wants full 5G coverage by 2025

Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, announced in his ‘State of the Union’ speech that there should be full 5G coverage in Europe by 2025. He also announced an initiative for free Wi-Fi, which should be completed by 2020.

The construction of 5g should start in 2018, the Commission writes in a message. In addition, this should also create approximately two million jobs, Juncker added in his speech. The plans are part of a project to turn the EU into a ‘gigabit society’. For example, every household in the European Union must have an internet connection of at least 100Mbit/s by 2025. Public institutions, schools, companies and ‘transport hubs’ must have access to internet connections of 1Gbit/s.

Juncker has also announced a second initiative called ‘WiFi4EU’. With this, the Commission wants to make available €120 million to provide free Wi-Fi in various places in the EU, including parks, libraries and other public buildings. These can request Wi-Fi facilities, the costs of which are borne by the EU. The public institutions, including hospitals, for example, do pay for the monthly subscription costs themselves.

The organizations must demonstrate in advance that they are willing to provide ‘high-speed internet’ and that they do not compete with existing Wi-Fi offerings from public or private parties. Only then are they eligible for the WiFi equipment and its installation. The rules for the project are laid down in a regulation. The Commission also presented on Wednesday plans for an addition to copyright, including granting new rights to news publishers. These plans had already been leaked recently.