29 January, 2020

European telcos support harmonised and fact-based EU rules on 5G security

Brussels, 29 January 2020 – ETNO, the Association representing Europe’s leading telecom operators, supports a harmonised EU approach to 5G security. Security is at the heart of our on-going work to deploy resilient 5G infrastructure across European territories. We therefore welcome today’s publication of the “5G Security Toolbox”, presented by EU Member States with ENISA and the European Commission.

Europe’s decision-making on 5G should continue being based on facts, it should be proportionate to threats and  build on a solid understanding of technology reality. In this context, we invite National Governments to avoid disproportionate actions that negatively impact the investment climate, and which could in turn harm both Europe’s competitiveness and its strategic position in 5G development.

Technological developments indicate that 5G provides new, innovative opportunities for making networks and communications more secure. Technologies such as network slicing, encryption and AI-based network controls provide new tools to increase the resilience and security of a country’s digital infrastructure. At the same time, telcos are stepping up their security efforts so that resilience is ensured also in complex network architectures, which present a broader surface for potential attacks.

From the viewpoint of Europe’s competitiveness, a timely roll-out of 5G is a key enabler of the European Commission’s objective to ensure EU leadership in global digital markets. This is crucial to empower both consumers and business across European regions. Telecom companies remain fully committed to such objective and believe that strong pro-investment policies in the field of spectrum auctions, network sharing and fibre roll-out are all essential to achieve a better climate for European telecom investment.

In this context, European telcos will continue pursuing a multi-vendor strategy, so that Europe can rely on a diverse pool of network suppliers, who compete to deliver high-quality, secure and affordable network equipment.

ETNO and its members look forward to collaborating with National Governments, ENISA and the European Commission to continue ensuring an informed and technology-savvy implementation of the 5G security framework. This includes a European approach to cybersecurity assessment and certification of critical network elements.