Written by Mary Lennighan
The European Commission has selected 42 projects out of 69 proposals submitted in the second round of calls for proposals under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme.
As a quick recap, the EU is in phase two of CEF, which covers the 2021-2017 period. The CEF Digital part of the programme has a budget of €1.6 billion and a remit to support and catalyse investment in digital connectivity infrastructures of common European interest. Almost half of that budget is earmarked for "a wide array of projects in digital connectivity between 2021-2023," while almost a quarter is allocated to improving 5G coverage along transport corridors over the same period.
This second funding call represents only a small part of the overall budget, but it is noteworthy nonetheless, the money having been granted – subject to the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) actually signing on the dotted line – to an array of different parties including telecoms operators, infrastructure companies, transport firms, and public and research bodies. The 42 winning projects involve a total of 179 players from 18 countries.
The Commission noted that the winners "will receive funding to deploy safe, secure, and sustainable high-performance 5G and digital backbone infrastructure." The projects range from deployment of 5G infrastructure for local communities and along major European transport corridors, to deployment of submarine cables within and to the EU, it added.
