For those who are wondering whether European countries are really working on 5G adoption, news today shows a Finnish auction on frequency allocation in play to prepare for 5G network evolution.
“Over the past 18 months, the 5G network has been made available in 30 cities and municipalities in Finland. This spring, well-functioning connections have proved even more valuable than anticipated,” spokespersons for the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency said in a press statement, according to Reuters.
Health and safety advocates might be more circumspect about European nations joining the 5G bandwagon in the long term, due to concerns about frequency impacts. It’s not out of character for the EU to move more slowly than the US when it comes to relatively untested science – for example, the EU’s existing ban on peracetic acid for food preparation and its stance on genetically modified organisms are prime evidence. But on 5G, it seems that Europe intends to be competitive with relatively little slow-walking of the tech.
In fact, broader news on the 5G race in global telecom shows that these European countries and their leading telecom firms might resist ceding ground on 5G needs to major world superpowers that seem to be engaged in a game of chicken for world tech dominance.
What this looks like involves the reported assertion by attorney U.S. Attorney General William Barr that American companies could “swoop in” and buy Ericsson and Nokia, two European telecom giants, in order to freeze out China’s Huawei. The Chinese company has been the subject of repeated blacklisting by the American administration due to national security concerns and a general animus towards Chinese leadership, where President Trump suggests America has been taken advantage of in general.
Regardless of geopolitical intentions, it’s highly unusual for an acting attorney general to weigh in on trade this way. The move is also dubious in terms of the American ability to micromanage the global economy in this way. What it does show is that 5G is going to be part of an international competition to reach the finish line.