The EU will provide a total amount of nearly €150 million in financial support to 38 projects to deploy safe, secure and sustainable high-performance 5G and digital backbone infrastructure. The projects have been selected among those submitted under calls for proposals under CEF Digital, the funding programme supporting European digital infrastructure.
Under the first Call for Proposals for the digital strand of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF Digital), which closed for applications on 20 April 2022, 38 projects have been selected, of the 60 proposals submitted, for a total EU grant support of nearly €150 million.
The projects range from deployment of 5G infrastructure for local communities and along major European transport corridors, deployment of submarine cables within and to the EU, to cloud infrastructure interconnections. More calls for proposals are foreseen in the CEF Digital Work Programme. The second call for proposals is currently open until 23 February 2023 with a budget of €277 million.
Background
The EU’s financial contribution comes in the form of grants with different co-financing rates. The CEF Digital programme funds both feasibility studies and subsequent deployment projects across the EU.
Under the CEF Digital programme, €2 billion has been made available for grants from the EU’s 2021-2027 budget to co-fund projects in the EU Member States. CEF Digital is part of the larger Connecting Europe Facility programme, which also funds Energy and Transport infrastructure to promote growth, jobs, inclusiveness, and competitiveness.
Next steps
Following the EU Member States’ approval of the selected projects on 13 December 2022, the Commission has adopted a formal selection decision. The European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) is currently in the process of concluding the grant agreement preparations with the successful project beneficiaries.
List of selected projects
CEF Digital: First call selected projects
Source: European Commission I HaDEA (https://bit.ly/3IRWWD2)