In the context of the European 5G Conference 2021, held on 23-25 February 2021, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has announced and published the report “Accelerating the 5G transition in Europe – How to boost investments in transformative 5G solutions.”
This report examines the access to finance conditions for the optimum development of innovative services, applications and business models triggered by 5G and adjacent technologies such as IoT, and proposes recommendations that will help to improve 5G-related access-to-finance for European Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Europe has a number of key strengths and the necessary market structure to create a thriving 5G ecosystem. Within Europe’s active 5G infrastructure market, technology providers, connectivity service providers, service enablers and civil infrastructure providers together create a strong supply side of the ecosystem. On the demand side of 5G connectivity, Europe’s leading industries and entrepreneurial environment represent clusters of high potential for 5G uptake.
The recommendations provided in this study offer suggestions on how these unique European advantages could be leveraged in the coming years, highlighting funding programmes and extra measures that could help improve 5G-related access to finance for European SMEs.
At Axon Partners Group, we are very pleased to have provided support to the EIB on this important study. Alongside our recent work carried out on behalf of the European Commission (EC) and the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC), we have positioned ourselves as a trusted partner to European Institutions on shaping the upcoming 5G ecosystem, one of the most critical building blocks of the digital economy and society in the next decade.
