Presentation of the Policy Paper “The Hidden Costs of Untrusted Vendors in 5G Networks”

The introduction of the 5G mobile communications standard will bring about a technological revolution for business, industry and society. As a result, trustworthiness and sovereignty over this new supercritical infrastructure are being hotly debated on a national and European level. To lead Europe into a secure future, adequate regulation of 5G networks, how to build and how to manage them is needed. Countries expect a high degree of trustworthiness from those providing 5G. If untrusted companies will play a role in setting up 5G networks in Europe, considerable costs can be expected. Only some of these costs are incurred by the mobile network operators. Many of the costs will be borne by other sections of society, such as telecommunications customers or taxpayers, who, without further regulation, have no input on the selection of network equipment provider. Against this backdrop, BIGS worked together with a multidisciplinary group of authors from France, Germany, Italy and Portugal in order to reveal the hidden costs of these untrustworthy network vendors and, insofar as possible, calculate the costs.