Hungary’s 5G strategy could be presented to the government at the end of October, Minister for Innovation and Technology László Palkovics said at the ITU Telecom World 2019 conference of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on Tuesday in Budapest.
He added that Hungary is at the vanguard of the world in both mobile and landline Internet coverage and access, and the country is ranked 8th in download speed. 5G will be able to change this, and Hungary could claim an even higher ranking.
The Minister stressed that their goal is to support the wider spread of 5G applications in Hungary.
He added that 5G is also important from an economic point of view as the value of the related investments is enormous. He mentioned as an example that Huawei has invested USD 75 billion in the development of the technology. 5G could be used in a number of areas; the Minister mentioned transport and the health industry as examples. The state must undertake a role in the development of the infrastructure in a way that does not distort competition, Mr Palkovics said.
The ITU is the UN’s most important global institution functioning in the area of infocommunication, whose mission it is to promote international telecommunications cooperation. Hungary is a founder member of the international union with 193 participating member states. In 2018 Hungary was elected into the ITU’s decision-making body, the Council featuring 48 members. ITU Telecom World is the most important infocommunications event of governments, companies and small and medium-sized enterprises which – providing a unique international platform – brings together advanced and emerging markets, leaders of the state and private sectors, and industry representatives of the infocommunication technology.