BARCELONA — The world, or rather the West, is finally figuring out who it wants to bring into the 5G market in place of Huawei. New digital networks built with an “open” architecture are gaining ground in the United States and Europe. Behind the technological change is a hard pivot away from Chinese tech giant Huawei — and a fix to the problem that this left just two European players, Sweden’s Ericsson and Finland’s Nokia, to provide 5G equipment. The technology, called Open Radio Access Networks (Open RAN), opens up the 5G supply chain by allowing alternative software and hardware makers to c ..read more

Europe’s telecoms industry has been telling policymakers for years that it’s struggling to make the profits it needs to keep investing in networks. The European Commission finally told them it was listening, laying out ideas to boost Europe’s digital infrastructure in a paper that could pave the way for new legislation, fewer rules, more investment and potentially more deal-making. “We have 27 national markets with different network architecture, levels of coverage … and, to some degree, regulation,” Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager told reporters Wednesday. “Fragmentatio ..read more

In the fast-paced world of innovation, patents and technical standards are critical to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) creating new, sustainable internet of things (IoT) solutions. Central to this ecosystem are standards, which ensure technologies like wifi and 5G operate seamlessly across myriad devices. Unfortunately, the power imbalance created by some standard-essential patent (SEP) holders exploiting their gatekeeper position threatens the fabric of innovation and the livelihood of Europe’s SMEs striving to compete globally. As a head of projects and chief strategist at LucidCir ..read more

How often have we heard about the importance of innovation for companies in Europe to stay competitive? Well, now we have a chance to make a real difference to help European industry develop new, innovative smart and sustainable products and services. What is at stake is the little-known but hugely important issue of licensing of so-called standard essential patents (SEPs). These are the patents that large and small businesses rely on to use technical standards for technologies such as wifi, 5G or bluetooth. Innovators use these technologies to make TVs smart and cars connected. Standards enab ..read more

Joe Biden has been president now for three years, and you might think you’ve heard everything there is to know about his presidency. You probably haven’t. Most of the work of government doesn’t go viral on social media or become fodder for TV talking heads. Every president’s administration makes changes both significant and trivial that largely escape the public’s attention — yet many have long-lasting impact. So we asked POLITICO’s newsroom, including the reporters who track the minutiae of government policy, to tell us about the major but under-the-radar changes made so far during Biden’s te ..read more

Via Vodafone. Joakim Reiter, Chief External and Corporate Affairs Officer, Vodafone In 2023, Boston Scientific adopted a 5G-connected service that allows cardiologists to interact with holographic replicas of a patient’s heart through augmented reality (AR). As well as creating the perfect environment for training new surgeons, 5G AR can also play a role in supporting live operations. This is just one example of the potential use cases for next-generation connectivity. Meanwhile, in China, Unicom Guangdong is already combining 5G with multi-access edge computing (MEC) to deliver low-latency, h ..read more

As the European Parliament is on the verge of expressing its view on the Commission’s proposal for a regulation on standard essential patents (SEPs), it seems appropriate to draw the attention to potential disruptive effects of this legislative initiative. Although some commentators have portrayed the proposed regulation as a balanced, innocuous and ‘common-sense’ solution, the reality is very different, as the regulation will likely have adverse effects on European innovation, tech sovereignty and the competitiveness of the European Union in the global arena. It is worth reminding that standa ..read more

BRUSSELS — In a bid to speed up 5G, European farmers stand to lose out on a cash cow. A reform of rules to roll out digital infrastructure is expected to dent revenues raised by European farmers and especially farm land owners that are hosting masts on their fields in exchange for fees. The European Union’s Gigabit Infrastructure Act, proposed last February and meant to speed up the rollout of high-speed networks in Europe, is being finalized by Brussels’ legislators, with a deal expected early next month. As part of the bill, European Union lawmakers want landowners to negotiate the renewal o ..read more

This article is part of the Belgian Presidency of the EU special report. All eyes are on next June’s European election — and it’s up to the Belgians to close out the current five-year mandate. With the European Union going into full campaign mode ahead of the vote, Belgium has even less time than usual to make the most of its run heading the Council of the EU. With the sun setting on this European Parliament and European Commission, there’s no time to waste. Despite the best efforts of Spain, which we previewed a half year ago, many files in Belgium’s in tray are leftovers. Others are new or a ..read more

For years, the Chinese telecom giant Huawei had been building a beachhead in Costa Rica, supplying hardware as the Central American nation built out its wireless networks. That ended abruptly on the last day of August. As he signed a law banning his government from buying Huawei equipment, Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves said the country would procure equipment “only from trusted suppliers” — meaning, in diplomatic language, it would cut out Chinese firms. The law would then expand the ban to all private companies in Costa Rica as well. Costa Rica’s decision was the result of sustained pr ..read more