The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in collaboration with the Ministry for Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media of Greece organized the ITU Forum on "Towards 5G Enabled Gigabit Society" held from 11 to 12 October 2018 in Athens, Greece.
This Forum was planned in the context of the European Regional Initiative on Broadband Infrastructure, Broadcasting and Spectrum Management approved by WTDC-17 that worked towards facilitating high-speed connectivity with resilient and synergistic infrastructure development, deployment and sharing, whilst ensuring a trusted and quality user experience. It focused on opportunities related to 5G and challenges to be addressed in infrastructure roll-out, spectrum management and broadcasting. While referring to the vision of turning Europe into a Gigabit Society by 2025, this forum discussed, in particular:
- National policies and strategies for 5G
- Regulatory frameworks fostering 5g implementation
- Future networks and 5G: fixed and mobile
- Spectrum issues related to 5G
- New business paradigms by the network operators
- 5G for smart cities
- 5G for connected and automated vehicles
- 5G innovation ecosystem
Outcomes of this Forum contributed to the works of ITU on 5G, including those undertaken by Study Groups of Radiocommunication, Standardization and Development Sectors.
Participation in the Forum was open to ITU Member States, Sector Members, Associates and Academic Institutions and to any individual from a country that is a member of ITU who wished to contribute to the work. This included individuals who were also members of international, regional and national organizations.
