The sluggish rollout of 5G and fibre broadband is the "weak point" of Belgium's digital economy, as a new report by the Economy Ministry highlights that the country is lagging behind the rest of Europe.
The Ministry's annual overview of Belgium's digital economy has found that the country is performing well in terms of digitalising businesses and public services and using artificial intelligence. But Belgium is "lagging behind in the deployment of 5G and fibre optics."
In 2023, 94.48% of Belgian households had an internet connection at home, above the EU average of 93.08%. For SMEs, 86.6% had a "fast" broadband connection of at least 30 Mbps (megabits per second), also above the EU average of 84.9%.
However, the report highlights that Belgium is "lagging behind in the deployment and adoption of advanced technologies" such as 5G and FTTP (fibre to the premises/property).
5G is the fifth generation of wireless cellular technology, offering higher upload and download speeds, more consistent connections, and improved capacity than previous networks. Meanwhile FTTP (fibre) is a high speed internet service that uses fibre optic cables.
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In 2023, Belgium ranked last in Europe for fibre coverage: just 25% of households were covered, compared with a European average of 63.99%.
The Economy Ministry said that Belgium's poor performance on fibre rollout "needed to be put into perspective," as the country still has good internet coverage through fixed network cables.
Moreover, "the situation is set to change, as the Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications (BIPT) – the Belgian telecoms regulator – predicts that by 2025, half of all households should be equipped with FTTP." By 2028, 75% of households should be covered, the Ministry added.
It was estimated that at least 40% of households in Belgium lived in an area covered by 5G mobile technology in 2023. This was a "significant increase" on 30% coverage in 2022, but still behind the European average of almost 90%.
The Economy Ministry's report is based on 2023 data. BIPT provided updated figures on the 5G rollout in June 2024. It noted that 95% of households had outdoor 5G coverage and 76% have indoor coverage.
Delays in rollout due to 5G auction
While Belgium is catching up with the rest of the EU, the Economy Ministry noted that the 5G rollout has been delayed in recent years "largely due to the late completion of the spectrum auction."
The 5G rollout was delayed in 2019 as regional governments couldn't agree on how to divide up the income from the public auction which would grant the 5G rollout rights to an internet provider.
It was further delayed as Belgium came under pressure to exclude Chinese provider Huawei from participating in Europe's 5G market over spying concerns. Belgian telecoms providers were pressured into replacing existing Huawei infrastructure.
After the 5G contracts were granted to bidding telecoms operators, there were more delays as the Stop5G.be collective appealed the licences in court.
In terms of overall internet speed, more than 70% of fixed internet subscriptions have speeds of 100 Mbps or more, putting Belgium in the top ten in the EU.
However, the report noted that internet connections with speeds of at least 1 Gbps (gigabits per second) are "still rare". In 2023, only 5.44% of households had this type of connection, compared with a European average of 18.52%. Looking at SMEs, just 11.1% had access of at least 1 Gbps.
Report based on 'outdated' figures
Belgian federation Agoria represents technology companies from the manufacturing industry and the digital and telecom sectors. Agoria noted that data from the Economy Ministry's report came from the EU's Digital Decade Report that was published this summer.
At the time, Agoria highlighted that the Belgian telecommunications sector is making record investments in internet infrastructure to meet EU targets. However, it said that tax barriers for investments in network infrastructure should be lowered and administrative procedures simplified.
In a statement to The Brussels Times on Monday, a spokesperson for Agoria said that figures in the report are "mostly outdated."
"BIPT confirmed that outdoor 5G-coverage for households was at 95% in June," they said.
"Regarding fibre, Belgian telecom operators are massively investing in the rollout. Year after year, significant progress is being made. Important to note is that for the fast 'Very High Capacity Networks' [VHCN], Belgium is currently at 96% coverage," they added, noting that Belgium ranks in the top five in Europe in terms of VHCN coverage.
