European Court of Auditors

01/18/2022 | News release | Distributed by Public on 01/18/2022 02:05

Upcoming report on the rollout of 5G in the EU

On Monday 24 January, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) will publish a special report on the implementation of secure 5G networks in the EU countries.

ABOUT THE TOPIC

With 5G, the number of connected devices in use worldwide is forecast to double, reaching around 50 billion by 2030. This will create a massive web of interconnected devices, spanning everything from smartphones to cars and kitchen appliances. The European Commission, in its 2016 5G Action Plan, put forward the objective of ensuring uninterrupted 5G coverage in urban areas and along main transport routes by 2025. In March 2021, it extended the objective to include universal 5G coverage in all populated areas by 2030.

With 5G networks becoming the backbone of a wide range of services and applications, the availability of these networks has become a major national and EU security challenge. The European Commission has therefore started developing initiatives in the area of 5G security, in particular the EU toolbox on 5G cybersecurity, which it adopted in January 2020.

ABOUT THE AUDIT

The EU auditors have assessed whether EU support to Member States has contributed effectively to achieving the timely deployment of secure 5G networks across all EU countries. More information on this audit can be found here.

FOR PRESS

ECA press office will hold a virtual briefing on Monday 24 January. Journalists who wish to participate should contact [email protected] for details.

The report and press release will be published on the ECA website www.eca.europa.eu at 5:00 p.m. CET on Monday 24 January.

The ECA member responsible for this report is Annemie Turtelboom.

The ECA's special reports set out the results of its audits of EU policies and programmes or management topics related to specific budgetary areas. The ECA selects and designs these audit tasks to be of maximum impact by considering the risks to performance or compliance, the level of income or spending involved, forthcoming developments and political and public interest.