5G deployment is actively pursued within the Baltic Sea Region. European countries such as Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Germany, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are actively involved in the deployment of 5G in the field of telecommunications, transport and logistics and much more.

These countries have already demonstrated leadership in developing the policy and infrastructure required for commercial 5G deployment, in particular Latvia, which according to the European Commission’s Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) 2019 report, is ranked 3rd in 5G readiness in Europe.

Riga is therefore the right place to be to discuss the deployment of the first commercially-viable 5G business models in Europe. The city in fact hosted the second edition of the 5G Techritory event, which took place from 27 to 29 November, and where ERTICO was invited to present its vision for the future deployment of 5G in transport across the EU.

“We need to collaborate across sectors if we want to achieve Europe’s transport goals”, said ERTICO CEO Jacob Bangsgaard. “For this reason, access to technology and knowledge sharing are essential to build a future society which will be digital and connected. ERTICO’s role is to foster this collaboration and exchange across all sectors”, he concluded.

And in name of collaboration, ERTICO also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with 5G AI, a cross-sector association that carries out activities for standardization, frequency spectrum, R&D projects, technology skills, collaboration with key vertical industry sectors for the development of trials, and international cooperation.

“As our world becomes more digitised, it is vital that we collaborate across the various domains. For this reason this MoU is important for bringing together the areas of 5G and Connected and Automated mobility”, said Colin Willcock, Chairman of the Board of 5G AI Infrastructure Association.

5G-MOBIX was there to share knowledge on using 5G for cross-border movement of automated vehicles. Interested participants visited the 5G-MOBIX stand in the exhibition area where they could learn more about the project's use cases across EU Member States through 8 trial sites, two of which are located outside the EU.

5G Techritory was once again proof of the importance of cross-sector collaboration when it comes to deploying smart mobility solutions across Europe.