The EU supports the deployment of digital connectivity infrastructures with nearly €150 million in funding under the Connecting Europe Facility

A total EU grant of nearly €150 million will be distributed for the aforementioned projects, feasibility studies or works, which were selected among the proposals received for the first Connecting Europe Facility – Digital (CEF Digital) programme call. You can find the full list of results here.

The scope of the funded projects ranges from 5G network infrastructures  in local and rural communities and along major European transport corridors, to the deployment of submarine cables within the Union’s territory or connecting the EU with third countries, as well as the implementation of cloud infrastructure interconnections, and European DNS resolver service infrastructure.

With the support of CEF Digital, the selected projects will improve Europe's 5G and backbone connectivity infrastructure. This is fundamental for achieving Europe's digital transformation and the EU’s connectivity targets for the next decade, namely ensuring that that all EU households have Gigabit connectivity and all populated areas are covered by 5G connectivity by 2030.

The Connecting Europe Facility funding programme will also strengthen European and international connectivity networks by supporting new or upgrading existing backbone infrastructures in the EU and with like-minded third countries. This is essential for the interconnection of digital capacities, such as cloud, data and computing, which fit into the EU's ambition to be digitally sovereign.

More calls for proposals are foreseen in the CEF Digital Work Programme. 

CEF Digital Call 1 funded projects

·        Backbone connectivity for Digital Global Gateways – Studies

·        Backbone connectivity for Digital Global Gateways – Works

·        5G for smart communities

·        5G cross-border corridors – Studies

·        5G cross-border corridors – Works

·        Backbone networks for pan-European cloud federations – Studies

·        Backbone networks for pan-European cloud federations – Works

Support action

·        Supporting the Strategic Deployment Agendas for the EU Corridors

Background

With a planned budget of  up to €2 billion until 2027, the CEF Digital will support the digital transformation and Europe's Digital Decade targets for fixed and mobile connectivity. It is part of the CEF programme, which supports investment in trans-European digital, transport and energy networks, worth €33.7 billion from 2021 to 2027.

For More Information

Connecting Europe Facility – Second Calls for Proposals

Connecting Europe Facility – CEF Digital