Europe lags in rollout of 5G stand-alone technology

OOKLA, an Internet speed platform, said Europe lags globally in the rollouts of 5G standalone technology.

In its report, titled: ‘A Global Evaluation of Europe’s Competitiveness in 5G SA,’ and co-published with research house Omdia, it looked deep into the technology and performance metrics globally.

It also focuses on Europe’s competitiveness in three key 5G areas: technology, monetisation progress (both for consumers and enterprises), and government policies.

According to it, Europe severely lagged other regions in 5G SA availability. It stated that China, India, and the United States are reportedly markedly ahead in based on the Ookla Speedtest sample share, with 80 per cent, 52 per cent, and 24 per cent, respectively. Other metrics used for the headline key finding are download speeds, the interplay of early deployments, diversification in multi-band spectrum strategy, and operator willingness to invest in 5G core.

Ookla said the European region (while the report does not include a methodology it appears to be referring to the European Union only as it uses phrases such as ‘member states’ is compared to individual countries, at least for some of the findings in this study. As such, it is not clear if and to what extent individual “member states” vary in their availability of the technology.

Looking at standalone deployments among “member states”, the report admitted that within Europe, it observed significant disparities, saying “Germany, the United Kingdom, and Spain — all four-player markets benefiting from targeted 5G SA-specific fiscal stimuli or coverage obligations — lead Europe in terms of 5G SA rollout across multiple operators.

“Meanwhile, Southern and Central European countries have supplanted the Nordics at the forefront of this phase of the 5G cycle, with Greece (547.52 Mbps) leading on median download speed in Q4 2024 thanks to its 3.5 GHz usage, and Spain and Austria excelling in rural 5G SA coverage on the back of intensive deployment of the 700 MHz band,” it stated.

MEANWHILE, a report revealed that top industry executives are split over preparation for 6G. The technology will be a major talking point during the upcoming MWC25 event in Barcelona, Spain.

With 5G return on investment proving tough for most – Deutsche Telekom’s CEO, Tim Höttges claimed his company is the exception – there has been some pushback in recent years against efforts to get the industry, and the telcos in particular, to focus resources on 6G R&D and planning.

According to TelecomsTV survey, while 38 per cent of executives believed current levels of R&D and planning are adequate and appropriate, 35 per cent reckoned that the telecoms sector shouldn’t be wasting any of its time and resources on 6G.

Only 19 per cent of respondents think the industry has taken its eye off the 6G ball and, surprisingly, only a few executives aren’t sure.

The research noted that the debate and heat around 6G is set to intensify this year, especially following the upcoming 3GPP 6G Workshop to be held in Incheon, South Korea, on March 10 to11, where industry representatives will start to pinpoint exactly what needs to be considered for standardisation in 3GPP Release 21, which will include the first technical specifications for 6G.