The GSMA report analyses Europe’s 5G gap and the reforms needed to close the digital divide.
Although 5G has expanded more rapidly than previous mobile generations and has now achieved very broad coverage across Europe (93%), the GSMA report Mobile Investment Needs in Europe points to a growing lag behind the main global players. The gap concerns not only penetration, but above all network quality and the availability of standalone 5G architectures, which are essential to support the transition towards AI, automation and new digital services. At the root of this delay is a level of investment per connection in Europe that is around half that of leading markets (€35 compared with €70 per line), while operators’ revenues continue to decline despite growth in data traffic. The report estimates that closing the gap would require around €200 billion in additional investment over the next decade, a scale that is unlikely to be achieved without reforms that support consolidation in national markets, spectrum management aimed at maximising investment rather than revenue from the allocation of usage rights, and a simplification of the regulatory framework, which is currently a source of significant competitive asymmetries compared with other actors in the digital ecosystem.
Author: GSMA
Publisher: GSMA
Publication date: May 2026