5G Strategic Deployment Agenda coordination

This CSA will - in close cooperation with the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking - coordinate the development of 5G Strategic Deployment Agendas in the area of 5G for CAM.

This includes the development of deployment roadmaps, cooperation models and regulatory approaches.

Related objectives include the achievement of common deployment approaches among projects in view of a consistent deployment of 5G Corridors across the EU, monitoring and reporting on deployment progress, and the build-up of a pipeline of future projects to be funded by CEF.

The CSA should facilitate the cooperation among the key stakeholders involved in 5G corridor preparation and CEF-funded deployment projects including the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA) as well as key stakeholders of the SNS Joint Undertaking towards the development and adoption of non-binding SDA documents and related guidance by the Working Groups and Governing Board of the SNS JU.

This guidance shall include strategic elements relevant for SDAs such as evolving deployment roadmaps, cooperation models and relevant regulatory issues, e.g. cross-border roaming, spectrum use, network sharing, specialised services, etc.

The CSA should also work with ongoing CEF-funded deployment and preparation projects to keep track of deployments executed in projects, planned for future projects and evaluate the progress as compared to planned roadmaps.

It should also gather best practice in ongoing deployment and preparation projects including technological solutions used, use cases envisaged, service requirements for coverage and performance, etc.

The CSA should also support the building of future project pipelines for CEF funding by facilitating the information of the community with regards to upcoming CEF Digital calls, networking opportunities for building project consortia, engaging stakeholders to consider project proposals in line with planned deployment roadmaps and in close cooperation with the Commission and Member States.

The proposal should cover the following activities:

1. Support to the organisation of stakeholder engagement activities, involving, amongst others mobile network operators, operators deploying infrastructure and associated facilities such as tower companies, telecom backhaul operators, road operators, rail infrastructure managers, automotive manufacturers, and mobility service providers, including SNS working group secretariat, workshops, information days, seminars, conferences and online social networks.
2. Proactive outreach to stakeholders and public authorities to stimulate interest in proposal submission to CEF Digital calls in line with deployment roadmap and planned project pipeline.
3. Support and coordination to the building of project pipelines for CEF funding and community building, across sectors and cross-border.
4. Gather and develop information among projects in terms of corridor length, mode of transport, service requirements for safety and non-safety services, technologies and systems including edge nodes, overall costs and funding, etc.
5. Elaboration of best practices of CEF-funded studies within 5G corridor preparation and CEF-funded deployment projects to cover common challenges (e.g. cross-border CAM business continuity, local breakout).
6. Performance evaluation across CEF-funded 5G corridor deployment projects and assessment of legal and regulatory constraints.
7. Progress monitoring of 5G corridor deployment projects, including geographic mapping of EU and non EU-funded 5G corridor projects and facilitate reporting with the European 5G Observatory.
8. Liaison with European regulatory authorities such as the Body of European Regulators in Electronic Communications (BEREC), European agencies such as the European Rail Agency, public-private-partnerships implementing EU funding programmes such as the Smart Network and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS) and the Cooperative, Connected and Automated Mobility PPP (CCAM).

Additional activities can be proposed to support implementation of this CSA.

For all the proposals submitted under this topic, to be eligible, all participating legal entities must provide security guarantees approved by the Member State in which they are established, on the basis of national law. The approval can be provided in the context of Art 11.6 of the CEF Regulation 2021/1153.

These guarantees will certify that the legal entity:

a) Exercises full control over its corporate structure and decision-making process in a manner that does not restrain or restrict in any way its ability to perform and complete the action and is not subject to foreign jurisdiction obligations that may
undermine the security of the Union;

b) Effectively prevents access by non-eligible third countries or by non-eligible third country entities to classified and non-classified sensitive information relating to the action; and

c) Ensures that the results of the CEF funded action shall remain within the beneficiary/beneficiaries and shall not be subject to control or restrictions by non-eligible third countries or other non-eligible third country entities during the action and for a specified period after its completion, as defined in this call conditions.

This CSA is expected to contribute to the effective and consistent deployment of 5G corridors across the EU. This should be a major enabler for the economic recovery and the digital and green transition of the EU economy.