The projects funded under this call are expected to accelerate the deployment of 5G SA across the Union, thus directly contributing to the achievement of the Digital Decade connectivity goals and the other Digital Decade targets. The benefits and impact of these actions will equally depend on the level of innovation present in the use cases addressed.

By closing deployment gaps and removing capacity bottlenecks and technical barriers, the deployment of 5G Corridors along the TEN-T networks will contribute to strengthening the social, economic, and territorial cohesion in the EU.

5G Corridor projects would deliver uninterrupted coverage, where service continuity will meet relevant quality-of-service requirements over the entire range of the corridor section. In turn, this will enable the developmment of a broad range of 5G-enabled CAM services, including road, rail, inland waterways and coastal maritime, and if appropriate in combination with multimodal transport, as well as complementary safety-related services where appropriate. The latter could be based on direct short range communication technologies, such as V2X and ITS-G5, and supporting complementarities between existing and future infrastructure deployment actions.

In the future, deployed infrastructure may contribute to the improved safety of road/rail/waterway/coastal operations (e.g. Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), Future Rail Mobile Communication System (FRMCS), River Information Services (RIS)) and enable 5G services for multiple application domains.

Key parameters to measure impact for the 5G Corridor topic, will be:

• Aggregate length of the corridor sections covered by 5G
• Spectrum bands enabled along the sections
• Inter-antenna distance, or in the case of deployment limited to passive netwok infrastructure only, inter-pylone/mast/towers
• Availability of various service features along transport routes, and
• Target network performance such as data rate and latency for each vehicle.

Projects may also contribute to the objectives of the Commission’s strategy on the mobility of the future in terms of road safety, optimised road traffic and reduced CO2 emissions and traffic congestion, as well as the competitiveness of the European telecom and automotive industries.

5G smart communities use cases are expected to accelerate the take-up of 5G SA connectivity for the provision of innovative services and contribute to a wider deployment at the same time. Such services can help reboot the overall economy, as well as support the transition towards the provision of smart services in line with the objectives of the European Green Deal. 5G SA innovative use cases include:

• IoT infrastructure and community services that require a flexible, low-latency, reliable, high-user-density connectivity infrastructure, e.g. through a combination of fibre and wireless connectivity (5G, small cells, and Wi-Fi) that is IPv6-enabled.
• 5G- and edge cloud- based use cases that leverage new 5G characteristics, e.g.: higher bandwidth and ubiquitous coverage (eMBB), ultra-low latency (URLLC), massive machine-type (mMTC).
• Process and data innovations that require connectivity infrastructures with advanced service features, e.g. quality-of-service guarantees enabled by edge computing facilities and support by network slicing.
• Projects that rely, where relevant, on open, disaggregated, and interoperable technology solutions and contributing to the emergence of a European 3C network ecosystem of suppliers.
• Leveraged impact on investment in 5G and edge cloud for vertical sectors by all types of public and private investors.
• Positive spillover effect to Digital Decade indicators not only for “digital infrastructure” but also to other use cases in Digital Skills, Digital Transformation of Businesses and Digital public Services.

In addition to the support for local innovation, the EU added value is also based on the dissemination and the early adoption of concrete 5G SA use cases that will contribute to gaining insights and increasing maturity for 5G applications in different sectors. It is expected that this will generate spillover effects across the 3C Network value chain, in particular by nurturing consumer-supplier synergies between actors working on converged, cloud-enabled connectivity and computing infrastructures. In all 5G Large Scale Pilots proposals, the beneficiaries should demonstrate that they have access to use case resources and capacities, including relevant radio spectrum (in case of passive infrastructure deployment, either directly or contractually with 5G spectrum band owners). They should provide reassurances as to the operation of the service beyond the specific areas (e.g. 5G corridor section) supported by CEF, and beyond the time horizon of the CEF-funded project, in view of the long-term development of the infrastructures (e.g. more extensive pan-European corridor network, replication of a smart community use case, etc.).

All proposals should include a solid implementation plan, including access to services and applications with social, economic, and environmental benefits extending beyond the co-fundeded Member States, the beneficiaries or telecoms sector, as well as a commitment to maintain the infrastructure beyond the lifetime of the project. Proposals should also include a plan to enable uninterrupted service beyond the 5G cross-border sections (for 5G Corridors proposals) and, if applicable, beyond the scope of the funded 5G SA network at the SED location (for 5G smart communities proposals). Such a plan should include the same security conditions that apply to the CEF-funded project.

Each proposal must be supported by the relevant competent authorities involved in the deployment of 5G SA network infrastructure in the area where the deployment is foreseen to take place, e.g. along a transport path on the two sides of the border, at national and/or regional and/or local levels for the 5G Smart Communities.

All the proposals should define post-project ownership and describe the mechanism(s) set in place for long term cooperation and sustainability. The functional and operational relationship(s) between the different participants in the value chain for the provision of digital services should be clearly defined.

Beneficiaries will be asked during project implementation to share their knowledge, achievements and lessons learnt, including in the context of relevant Support Actions, in order to demonstrate the benefits of 5G SA by providing concrete examples of 5G based use cases for SEDs. Sharing of project information will be essential for project replication (e.g. requirements elicitation, scoping and templates for financial sizing, facilitating identification of complementary funding sources) across the Union, thus facilitating the spillover effect of CEF Digital investments.

During project implementation beneficiaries will be also asked to cooperate with the ongoing CSA projects (or follow up actions) that support and enhance 5G edge and distributed cloud integration for European 5G corridors and 5G smart communities and foresee specific budget for these activities.

The Broadband Competence Offices (BCO) Network will also play an important role in helping applicants and beneficiaries to overcome the challenges related to the envisaged deployment and take-up of 5G SA, e.g. by conveying knowledge and good practices.

Proposals funded under this call may include synergetic (ancillary) elements relating to another sector of the CEF programme, i.e. energy and transport, if these synergetic elements allow to significantly improve the socio-economic, climate or environmental benefits of the action. CEF co-funding may be provided as long as the cost of these synergetic elements does not exceed 20% of the total eligible costs of the action. Art. 10 of CEF Regulation.

Synergies between CEF projects and with other relevant EU programmes is encouraged. Maximising the value, impact, efficiency of EU funding and supporting delivering on EU priorities is an EU added value which will be positively considered under the “Priority and Urgency” criterion.

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The deployment of 5G corridors has been identified as a Multi-Country Project (MCP) in the Path to the Digital Decade Policy Programme. In addition, the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) provides guidance in reviewing the 5G Strategic Deployment Agendas for both road and rail, with a particular focus on deployment scenarios, cooperation models, and regulatory incentives. Therefore, each proposal must foresee cooperation with relevant Programme Support Actions funded under CEF Digital as well as relevant working groups and fora of the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS), which is expected to provide strategic input to the implementation of the CEF Digital programme with the support of dedicated CSA projects.

Applicants may apply for grants towards work projects, covering the following categories:

• Deployment of passive network elements including civil works, e.g., ducts, dark fibre, 5G radio stations, towers, masts and/or pylons.
• Deployment and installation of active network elements, e.g., antennae, storage and computing capabilities such as network controllers, routers, switches, edge MEC/node etc.
• Deployment and installation of specific tracks-ide devices (e.g., road, rail) for CAM use cases, such as sensors, cameras etc. for traffic monitoring purposes, including connected road-side units.
• Studies for preparatory works to be deployed as part of proposed works within the same application, such as network planning.

The proposed cross-border section of a 5G corridor must cross at least one Member State border, while its length on both/all sides of the border may vary, depending on national circumstances, such as means of transport, geographic situation and maximum size of the project/EU funding indicated in the call.

As regards Member States with large highway and rail networks (over 1000 km), cross-border segments of 5G corridors may span up to 15% of the corresponding combined length of TEN-T comprehensive corridors, per mode of transport (e.g., road, rail) in a Member State. If justified by the project objectives and in the absence of 4G coverage or where 5G networks cannot support services addressing evolving end-users' needs), longer cross-border sections may be considered. As regards Member States with significantly smaller highway and rail networks, similar conditions to adjust the scale of corridor length may apply, and could thus exceed 15% of the corresponding TEN-T sections of the 5G corridors in a Member State, provided that market failure is demonstrated in the proposal.

In the case of Member States without intra-EU borders due to their geographic situation, or with no relevant sections of TEN-T corridors inside their borders, actions aiming at 5G coverage of intra-national corridor sections with insufficient mobile coverage suitable for CAM services, or sections without 4G coverage, are eligible. Similarily, 5G corridor deployment projects crossing the border of a third country or terminating at a port with maritime connections to other EU Member States are also within the scope of this call.

Cross-border deployment projects may also cover intra-national corridor sections where justified, if demonstrating market failure, and could be supported by CEF Digital with a maximum of 30% funding rate; complementary national deployment initiatives funded under other programmes, in line with state aid rules would be included.

In both cases, i.e. cross-border sections with or without intra-national sections, projects supported by CEF Digital shall not undermine coverage obligations of the mobile network operators stemming from spectrum licence conditions. Should the same area be considered for deployment, the applicants must demonstrate that service requirements fulfilled by the CEF funded project for future CAM services along the section concerned are going beyond requirements of coverage obligations, in particular service continuity with guaranteed quality of service, such as data capacities offered per vehicle, speeds, latency, or other service enablers. Costs related to fulfilling coverage obligations under spectrum licences will not be eligible for financing under CEF Digital.

Funding projects that foresee sharing both, passive and active infrastructure, e.g. through wholesale offers, is encouraged in order to allow for an efficient use of funds provided under this programme. Sharing passive, as well as active equipment on the part of mobile network operators (e.g. using the neutral host model), should aim at substantially reducing network deployment costs and acilitating an energy efficient use of resources when deploying and operating the 5G SA infrastructures. Existing  infrastructures such as ducts, fibre, equipment shelters, power supply and utility poles should be used as needed and if possible. Large-scale pilot proposals should clearly outline the benefits of deploying 5G corridors, as well as their integration with edge and cloud infrastructure. This should be reflected in the design of the proposed supporting network architecture,its evolution towards the computing continuum, and should enable the development of innovative applications and use cases in the field of CAM (e.g. solutions for multi-modal mobility).

Proposals concerning corridors should demonstrate how the infrastructure will be made available for other service providers or users inside or outside the consortium, e.g. providing access on an open, fair, non-discriminatory basis to all operators that hold relevant spectrum licenses in the territory concerned, while keeping in mind the respective levels of risk undertaken. The provision of open, fair and non-discriminatory wholesale access is a key consideration for ensuring consistency with State aid rules. Proposals may include limitations to third party wholesale access to active network elements for the provision of FRMCS or ITS if justified on security grounds.

5G corridors proposals should describe how the project will be used for the provision of CAM or FRMCS services along the entire corridor. Any arrangements for network sharing options to ensure uninterrupted provision of services along the entire corridor should be clearly defined.

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