Recapping the European 5G Conference 2023

Forum Europe’s European 5G Conference returned to Brussels as a fully in-person event this March. We welcomed delegates from across Europe to hear from more than 60 speakers on critical themes such as investment, security, sustainability, emerging business models, and connectivity.

Our keynote speakers, Pearse O’Donohue from the European Commission and Kostas Masselos at BEREC opened day one of the conference, sharing an insight into the developing 5G rollout within Europe. Both shared some key takeaways from the presentations including:

Pearse O’Donohue | Director, Future Networks, DG CONNECT, European Commission

“The connectivity package has been launched with the key objective of creating an environment that enables Europe to meet its digital decade targets... We have 72% 5G coverage in Europe. This is just about a ‘pass’ mark. We need to benchmark against other regions around the world and push forward with the rollout of 5G standalone networks."

Kostas Masselos | Chairperson, BEREC

“5G is the fastest developing technology compared to previous generations. According to the 5G observatory, all countries in Europe now have commercial 5G services.”

Alongside the keynote speakers, numerous other high-level policymakers and industry stakeholders joined us on stage, including Carlota Reyners Fontana - European Commission, Cristina Data - Ofcom, Eric Fournier - RSPG, Maarit Palovirta - ETNO, Luigi Ardito - Qualcomm plus many more. Thank you to all the speakers who joined us this year and for sharing with us their views on the current 5G rollout in Europe.

Keynote Presentations from Pearse O’Donohue (European Commission) and Kostas Masselos (BEREC) with moderator Ilsa Godlovich (WIK-Consult)

Between discussions, we were able to catch up with some of our speakers and delegates to hear what their key takeaways were from the conference, as well as the value these events bring. You can view what some of our speakers had to say plus see our event day vlog below. 

Siada El Ramly | Director General, DOT Europe

“These events open the debate. For us [DOT Europe] the issue of network users' usage fees is really important and so the fact Forum Europe brought together different stakeholders to discuss the ins and outs of this issue means we have an actual discussion on things”.

Carlota Reyners-Fontana | Head of Unit, Electronic Communications Policy, European Commission

“We get to hear the perspective of satellite operators, spectrum regulators, and the telecom operators. For something like 5G, it’s very important to look at it from all these different angles.”

We also want to take this opportunity to thank all of our partners for the 2023 event, including:

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