While the discussion about the security and threads of 5G and influences of China is still a hot political debate, we have a totally new player in the Market – The European Tourism Industry. Some people are totally shocked to hear it, but you don’t need to be genius to understand why Tourism industry is rushing into new ICT infrastructure. These new customers are very pragmatic. They don’t need to be the inventor of 5G, or worry too much about it. Instead, they clearly know the values of 5G for the end users. It is actually very simple. The high speed internet infrastructure of 5G, which is approximately 100 times faster than previous Generation 4G, is a huge technology enabler. It allows us to finally implement concepts such as Industry 4.0, Internet of Things (IoT), Autonomous vehicles, Smart Homes, Smart Hotels, and Smart Urban development. The 5G makes all of these accessible for public.

Why some people are afraid of 5G?

The concern on 5G is mainly in the Unites States and a few English speaking allies. These concerns are mainly focused on the large market share of the Chinese technology giant Huawei, which is currently a major supplier of 5G technology. ZTE from China is also among the top 5, and together they have a market share of about 40 to 50%. It is actually quite a lot, especially when you compare it to their market share about 10 years ago. The other three players among top 5 are Samsung (Korea), Ericsson (Sweden) and Nokia (Finland). From the European perspective this is nice spectrum, and there is nothing to worry about. For now, the Chinese firms offer an inexpensive product, and if one day we are unhappy about it, we have very good law enforcement through the European Commission. This is especially important if the technology provider is connected with the intelligence services of China.  Secondly we, the European, still have our own alternative solutions in Europe. So, you see the perspective and the concerns in Europe are very different than that in the United States or in the other countries, who do not have a major 5G provider.