The Mobile Economy Europe 2022

Mobile networks are vital to economic recovery and realising green and digital transformation across Europe. Two years into the EU’s Digital Decade, the connectivity target of ‘Gigabit for everyone, 5G everywhere’ has never felt more urgent. The Digital Europe Programme, the Connecting Europe Facility and the recovery funds provided to EU Member States offer an opportunity for operators to partner with governments to improve connectivity across society and drive post-pandemic economic recovery across the region.

The majority of countries in Europe have now deployed commercial 5G services, and nearly two thirds of operators in the region have launched 5G networks. 5G adoption is gaining momentum in Europe, supported by an expanding 5G device ecosystem and strong marketing campaigns by operators. However, European markets still lag global peers such as Japan, South Korea and the US in adoption of the technology.

In 2021, mobile technologies and services generated 4.5% of GDP in Europe – a contribution that amounted to approximately €760 billion of economic value added. The mobile ecosystem also supported approximately 2.6 million jobs (directly and indirectly) and made a substantial contribution to the funding of the public sector, with €109 billion raised through taxation.