Roberto Sánchez inaugurates the fourth edition of the 5G Forum

Roberto Sanchez, Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation), has opened the fourth edition of the 5G Forum which, this time virtually, will take place from May 4 to 6 with the participation of the main companies and experts in new generation 5G and 6G networks.

The 5G Forum, organized by Medina Media Events which has Panorama Audiovisual As a media partner, it will bring together 68 speakers from May 4 to 6, in 35 presentations and 7 panels.

At the inauguration, Sánchez focused his speech on the strategy that Spain is following for the deployment of 5G and gave some insights into how European funds will be distributed for economic recovery.

Between 20218 and 2020, progress has been made in high capacity connectivity extending fiber optics throughout the territory, today reaching 85% of the population, 60% in rural areas. Now, the different projects carried out by Red.es, according to Sánchez, “will allow us to go further in this process so that by the end of next year 93% of the population will be connected to fiber with more than 100 Mbps.”

On the other hand, it has highlighted the contribution that 5G will bring in terms of high capacity, low latency, high density of connected devices... and that it will mean a disruption to the economy. "We must highlight that, unlike previous generations, 5G is totally disruptive not only in terms of personal communications, but also in the field of economic activity, healthcare, provision of services, production of goods, agriculture... 5G is very disruptive for the entire economy," he stressed.

He has also pointed out that high capacity is also a vector for the extension of ultra-fast broadband since it will allow expanding coverage in rural areas to serve both the population and sectors that will benefit from the new networks such as agriculture. “5G technology will allow us to advance in a digital, sustainable and inclusive transformation”, he commented.

In the opinion of the Secretary of State, The pandemic has had two effects: “on the one hand, it has raised the importance of digital transformation on the social agenda. This health crisis has shown that many of the activities that have been able to be maintained have been thanks to the existence of these networks and teleworking, teleeducation, social activity through videoconferencing, leisure or entertainment. At the same time, it has also highlighted the digital divides in terms of quality connections. Therefore, it is urgent to resolve these existing gaps both between individuals and between companies.”

Regarding the areas of application of 5G networks, Sánchez has highlighted the role that the different pilots that are carried out play when identifying which applications will be most successful “disruptively transforming different aspects of our lives.”
He also wanted to dwell on the confluence of 5G with other new technologies such as artificial intelligence or cloud services.

European funds

Roberto Sánchez has emphasized that 5G has become a fundamental element in the European digital compass and that thanks to Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan that Spain has presented to the European Commission, our country will have a significant economic endowment to carry out these transformations in which 5G will play a predominant role. Of the 140,000 million euros that Spain will receive in transfers and credits during the period 2021-2026, 4 billion will be allocated to the 5G Roadmap.

In total, the actions framed in the digital transformation will represent 29% of public investment, a figure “well above the recommendation formulated by the European Union for these funds,” Sánchez recalled.

Of those 4,000 million euros, about 2,000 will be allocated to extending connectivity with the aim of reaching 100% of the population to have a connection of at least 100 Mbps: about 1,500 million will be dedicated to the development of 5G with measures such as the extension of networks and R&D&I actions, and another 500 million will go to aspects related to cybersecurity.

The promotion of 5G technology will focus on three lines of action: the allocation of the 3.5 GHz band and the reorganization of the spectrum; the auction of the 700 MHz band that will be launched this May; and the reassignment of the 26 GHz millimeter band in which the Government is already working on studying the sector's requests.

Roberto Sánchez has highlighted that the Council of Ministers recently approved a extension from 20 to 40 years of the term of future concessions of the radio spectrum, which will mean greater confidence for telcos when deploying networks.

On the other hand, he wanted to emphasize that "we want to contribute to seeing 5G not only as part of the telco industry but as an instrument for the economic development of many other sectors. Measures to support the deployment of 5G networks will have to focus on that concept with support measures in even low-population areas to promote new services related to agriculture, for example."

To close his speech, he addressed the need to have a regulatory and trust framework in the field of cybersecurity in 5G and anticipated that a 5G Cybersecurity Law will be sent to the Congress of Deputies for debate that guarantees that this digital transformation is developed while minimizing technological and non-technological risks.

This fourth edition of 5G Forum is sponsored by Telefónica, Ericsson, Cellnex, Mavenir, Qualcomm, Minsait, Cisco, Rohde & Schwarz, 5Genesis, Keysight Technologies, ZTE, Huawei, Hispasat, Nearby Computing, Televés, Nokia, Impulsa Visión RTVE, Team Up, Axión, Gamma Solutions, Vantage Towers, Net Numbe y Dekra, in addition to the National 5G Observatory. The initiative is sponsored by, among others, Mobile World Capital, he Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation y Red.es, and the Junta of Andalusia.