The Commission roadmap on the gigabit society was welcomed by the bosses of Nokia at an event it organised on Wednesday 19 November.
Markus Borchert, Nokia’s Senior Vice-President Market Europe, was clear, however, that it must be implemented. “The key words for digital success are investment, infrastructure and innovation”, he said.
The communication, which was presented at the same time as the European telecommunications code (see EUROPE 11624), sets out what has to be done to allow all of the people of Europe to have broadband access of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) by 2025.
In his speech, Belgian Digital Agenda and Telecoms Minister Alexander De Croo called on the EU to change its mindset and no longer to be wary of new technologies. He launched a call to foreign companies that want to develop 5G, indicating that his country would be prepared to offer them free spectrum licences for a number of years on condition that they involve the Belgian academic community. He also sang the praises of the Belgian tax system (“tax shelter”) for young companies. His aim is for all Belgians to have a connection of 30 megabits per second and 1 gigabit per second for at least 50% of households by 2020. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)