The 6GHz harmonisation decision makes 480 MHz of additional spectrum available in the 6 GHz band for Wi-Fi networks. It means further improvements in network performance and faster, more stable connections for teleconferencing, sharing content and innovative services.

Pre-commercial procurement propelled the business of the Irish start-up Safecility to commercialise innovative IoT solutions that enable public authorities to implement automated remote building management. Customers also use Safecility’s solution successfully today to overcome the challenges of manual building inspections due to COVID-19 restrictions. Since this project, the company increased revenues, doubled its workforce and is working together with large electronics companies to commercialise its solutions more widely.

This publication is made pursuant to Point 3.1 of Annex 1 to Financial Regulation 2018 that provides for an ex-ante publication on the Institutions’ websites of contracts with a value up to 138.999,99 EUR.

Calais is the first Dutch broadband project funded by the Connecting Europe Broadband Fund (CEBF). The province of Groningen approached CEBF when they recognised their need for additional funding as well as a more strategic partner to reach the most remote areas. The resulting partnership will bring NGA access to over 100,000 inhabitants, combining fibre with a fixed wireless network for the hardest-to-reach areas. In this video, Jan Peter de Groot, Rodin Group CEO, explains that the pandemic made it very clear that people in all areas need to be able to “connect with the whole world”.

As part of the Catalonian citizens’ initiative, Guifi.net, volunteers have helped install over 40,000 nodes, connecting 100,000 rural inhabitants. In this video, Ramon Roca, Guifi.net founder, explains how, since its foundation, the project has driven demand as well as rural development, becoming both a “local ecosystem” and a business model, and growing increasingly affordable as it expands. Driven by volunteers, Guifi.net focuses on building the infrastructure and cooperation between public administrations, local entrepreneurs and ISPs, among others.

Innovative digital technologies are increasingly fundamental to agricultural production and sustainability. From a food supply perspective alone, there is an urgent need to optimise farming practices. According to the FAO, the world’s population will grow over a third by 2050. These people will need homes and space to live, so while farms will need to produce 60% more food, they will not be able to expand outwards to do so. Further to this, climate change will add to the strain on other important resources. In essence, farmers will need to produce more, using less: through precision farming.

The study analyses market and technology developments and their potential effect on policy objectives for GSM, the Global System for Mobile Communications.

The Commission has adopted the Implementing Decision to improve safety of road and urban rail transport. The Decision harmonises across Member States the use of the 5.9 GHz band for real-time information exchange on safety conditions in connected transport.

The European Commission’s 5G Action Plan aims to launch 5G services in all Member States by the end of 2020 as well as ensure uninterrupted 5G coverage in urban areas and along main transport paths by 2025.

The 230 households, farms and small businesses spread out over 44 square kilometres in the remote municipality of Hammikeln, in the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia, felt a great need for high-speed connectivity in order to continue to live and work in the area. The low population density, however, meant that there was no commercial interest from private telecom companies. As a result, the area’s four local communities decided to build their own gigabit-speed fibre network themselves, in partnership with a local utility company.