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The EU executive also wants to spur European
Union countries to achieve ambitious digital targets with yearly
reports that could expose who the laggards are.
It proposed that EU countries pool resources on 5G, data, low
power processors and blockchain projects, among others, making
it easier for them to raise funding from existing EU programmes
and private investors.
"So today we propose a concrete plan to achieve the digital
transformation," Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager
said in a statement.
Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton said: "We must ensure that
Europe is not in a position of great dependence in the years to
come. Otherwise, we will remain too exposed to the ups and downs
of the world, and miss out on economic growth and job creation."
Telecoms providers have long asked for more spectrum to deploy
5G mobile data services while governments see frequencies as
cash cows, with many raising billions of euros from spectrum
auctions.
More clarity on when spectrum would be made available and how it
will be used would increase legal certainty and investment
predictability, the Commission said.
The EU executive said it wanted to set up a digital economy and
society index (DESI) to monitor countries' progress on meeting
their digital goals via key performance indicators. Laggards
would have to take additional measures to catch up.
The Commission's proposal needs agreement from EU countries and
the European Parliament before it can be implemented.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Edmund Blair)
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