Though progress in infrastructure deployment remains debated, adoption and skills pose an undoubtedly significant challenge to achieving the EC’s 2030 targets
Reflecting on progress at the halfway point of the Digital Decade
On 16 June 2025, the EC released its State of the Digital Decade 2025 report, outlining progress to date against the EU’s digital infrastructure rollout and adoption targets for 2030. Despite long-standing debate around the state of fibre and 5G rollouts throughout the bloc, the report offers a generally positive view of network development across the EU as a whole. However, the region lags both in the take-up of digital services by businesses and in the development of digital skills. To respond to these persistent challenges, the EC both details its interventions to date and offers its recommendations moving forward across four main areas:
Securing further investment in innovation and scale-up technologies;
Building build strong, resilient and sovereign networks;
Easing administrative burdens on EU companies; and
Improving energy efficiency and reducing critical dependencies.
In publishing its report, the EC also noted its plans to review the Digital Decade targets in 2026, five years after they were announced, to ensure its goals still align with the digital demands of its overarching policy objectives.
The report’s findings on infrastructure deployment have been characterised both as a reflection of the success of the EECC as well as cause for urgent regulatory change
Though the report shows encouraging progress in the rollout of advanced networks, there remains a significant lag in progress towards the targeted adoption of digital technologies by businesses as well as the development of basic digital skills among consumers. Across the whole of the bloc, the EU has achieved 94% 5G coverage, approximately 70% full fibre coverage and approximately 83% coverage from very high capacity networks (VHCNs) – all of which are targeted to reach 100% by 2030. While the EC states it is relatively confident in the likelihood of achieving 100% 5G and VHCN coverage by that deadline, it expresses concern about the rate of progress in the deployment of full fibre as well as standalone 5G networks.
Progress has been unequally distributed across Member States, however, with Spain and Romania leading full fibre deployment at approximately 95% while Germany and Belgium both trail at under 40% coverage. Similarly, while a number of Member States have reached or are quickly approaching 100% 5G coverage, Latvia and Romania lag significantly behind with only 71% and 47% coverage, respectively. The likelihood that the EU will reach its Digital Decade infrastructure goals has long formed the basis of the debate around the forthcoming Digital Networks Act (DNA). These most recent data points have sparked disagreement once again, as the EC and stakeholders, including Connect Europe, claim they are clear evidence of the need for drastic intervention whereas the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA) points to the report as proof of the success of the EECC and the presence of ex-ante regulation.
Despite a lag in adoption and skills, the EC does not appear to be heeding calls to focus the Cloud and AI Act on either
Arguably more troubling than a perceived or actual delay in the achievement of the EC’s infrastructure goals, however, is the significant gaps remaining in the targeted adoption of digital technologies by European businesses. Although SMEs’ digital intensity (a composite score calculated based on businesses’ digital adoption and readiness) continues to improve, the specific take-up of cloud, digital analytics and AI remains stalled among businesses. AI take-up in particular stands at only 18% compared to the 75% take-up targeted by the EC, despite meaningful improvement (approximately 5%) over the past year.
Despite the data in the report, the EC does not consider the potential to leverage the upcoming Cloud and AI Development Act as a tool to drive adoption, as has been advocated in recent months by stakeholders including the Danish Government as it prepares to take over the presidency of the Council of the EU. Instead, it focuses on the upcoming legislation’s potential to grow the supply of secure and energy efficient cloud computing capacity within Europe. Perhaps contributing to the lag in digital adoption is the persistent gaps in digital skills among consumers as well as the employment of ICT specialists by businesses throughout the bloc. Though the percentage of EU residents with basic digital skills has jumped more than 10 percentage points in the past year, only 70% have the desired level of digital literacy, compared to the EC’s target of 80%. Additionally, the report finds that EU businesses are only about halfway to achieving the EC’s goal of employing 20m ICT specialists by 2030.
