In early 2022, the European Commission launched the first set of calls for proposals under the Connecting Europe Facility – Digital programme (CEF – Digital).
The deployment of 5G cross-border corridors along transport paths throughout Europe is expected to contribute to the green and digital transformation of the EU economy and society. In particular, 5G-enabled Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) is seen as a major enabler for improved road safety, optimised road traffic, reduced CO₂ emissions, and industrial competitiveness of both the transport and mobility sector.
The Commission has acknowledged the key role played by 5G cross-border corridors both in Europe’s Digital Decade Strategy and in the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy. 5G corridors also constitute one of the multi-country projects (MCPs) identified in the Digital Decade Strategy and thus represent one of the main strategic investment areas of the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
In order to prepare the large-scale deployment of 5G corridors, the Member States, industry, and the Commission have joined their efforts over the last few years to conduct testing and trials of 5G-enabled CAM, with the support of Horizon 2020 under the 5G Public-Private Partnership.
The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Digital programme over the 2022-2027 period will provide financial support to large-scale deployment of 5G corridors, with a planned budget of around €1 billion for this time period. The first Multi-annual Work Programme for the 2021-2025 period, adopted on 16 December 2021, sets a focus on the deployment of cross-border sections along 5G corridors. The first CEF calls were launched in January 2022.
Twelve projects (both works and studies) funded under the Connecting Europe – Digital (CEF Digital) programme were launched in early 2023 and are currently running.
5GCorridors Call 1 projects
Call 1
- 5G NETC: 5G Northern European Transport Corridor
- 5G SEAGUL: 5G Seamless Roaming for the Greece-Bulgaria CBC
- 5G DeLux: Seamless 5G cross-border mobility between Germany and Luxembourg
- MEDCOR5G: Mediterranean Corridor 5G and v2x network for future CAM and FRMCS services in cross-border section between France and Spain
- 5G Estuary: Study that defines cross-border digital corridor between Netherlands and Belgium
- EUMOB: Digitisation of European corridors for intelligent mobility
- 5GS: 5G Corridor Study for Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania
- 5G Brno – Bratislava: Study of 5G/FRMCS implementation on the railway corridor Brno (CZ) – Bratislava (SK)
- 5G GAIL: Inception study for the deployment of 5G in the cross-border section of the Carnic and Gailtal Alps between Italy and Austria
- 5GCarolina: Cross-border Highway 5G Corridor Munich-Prague
- 5G MELUSINA: 5G METZ – LUXEMBOURG SILLON INTERNATIONAL
- 5G on Track: 5G on Track Karlsruhe – Mulhouse
Following the first batch of projects launched in 2023, a second batch of projects has been selected to co-finance the 5G corridor infrastructure in 2024.
A second, complementary call for proposals was subsequently launched and closed in March 2023. This call for proposals strengthened the first call for proposals and led to the selection of six additional projects, 2 works and 4 inception studies to be funded under the Connecting Europe Digital Facility in 2024.
The European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) has completed the signing of grant agreements with the successful project beneficiaries.
Call 2
- 5G FREJUS: Inception study for the deployment of 5G in the Fréjus cross-border section between Italy and France
- ADRIA: 5G cross-border deployment study between Slovenia and Croatia on the Mediterranean corridor
- SITACOR: Inception study for the deployment of 5G in the cross-border sections of the TEN-T Mediterranean and Baltic–Adriatic corridors between Italy and Slovenia
- 5G HSL EUROLINK: 5G High-Speed Line EURO LINK Paris – Brussels 5GHSL Eurolink
5GCorridors Call 2 projects
