S5 Ep36: Backstage: 5G deployment in Europe

This episode of 'The Sound of Economics' features Bruegel
senior fellow J. Scott Marcus in conversation with Lise Fuhr,
director general, European Telecommunications Network Operators'
Association (ETNO).


The next wave of mobile network innovation is provoking great
excitement in the industry. And indeed, there is substantial
potential for improvement. However, the exact form of the
technology and the appropriate policy support are still far from
clear. 


The next generation of mobile technology, 5G, is being developed
along markedly different lines from previous generations. In the
past, mobile generations were generally characterised by a core
technology (or sometimes by two or more core technologies), and
were designed to fulfil the requirements of a fairly small number
of mobile voice and data applications. By contrast, 5G is being
developed to fulfil the needs of multiple use cases.


In this episode Scott Marcus and Lise Fuhr outline the challenges
of 5G deployment in Europe, their policy implications, and the
impact for the citizens. 


For further reading we recommend the blog post by Scott Marcus
High expectations for 5G confront practical realities.


This podcast was recorded during the event Rethinking Industrial
Policy in the Digital Age, an all-day conference held on 21 March
2019, about how the European policy-making will have to adapt to
the digital transformation.