Telecommunications, 5G, 6G and Network Sovereignty
Telecommunications infrastructure in Europe can no longer be analysed as a mature utility sector whose main policy questions concern household coverage, retail prices and consumer switching. In the Digital Decade framework itself, connectivity sits inside the Union’s broader ambition for “secure, resilient, performant and sustainable digital infrastructures”, alongside semiconductors, cloud-edge capacity and digital public services. The 2026 State of the Digital Decade package makes the core strategic point with unusual clarity: basic 5G coverage has reached 96.8% of EU households, yet Fibre-to-the-Premises and other high-capacity networks “still need to accelerate”, while dependence on non-EU providers remains significant in cloud services, cybersecurity and other strategic technologies. That combination of broad nominal coverage and persistent structural dependence is the starting point for any serious assessment of network sovereignty. [1]