Gunther Oettinger, the European commissioner for the digital economy, called CEOs from Europe’s leading operators and vendors to a meeting today about progress on 5G.

Oettinger wrote to the CEOs of Europe’s ten leading telecoms firms to say “Europe must be a leader in this area”, according to the Financial Times.

The letter adds that the EC chief wants to create “closer EU co-ordination to achieve a timely deployment of 5G” and to develop a “home market” in Europe for 5G-based products and services.

Oettinger tweeted on 8 January about “several important meetings next week about 5G, Industry40 and broadband”. The 5G meeting is scheduled in his diary for 12 January.

Among others, letters were sent to the CEOs of BT, Deutsche Telekom, Telecom Italia, Orange, Vodafone, Nokia and Ericsson.

The European Commission has announced various initiatives designed to encourage 5G deployment and is reported to be worried about how economic rivals such as China, Japan and South Korea have given the technology a priority.

For instance, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) this week announced a roadmap for testing 5G.

However, the development of 5G is not just a matter of competition between countries and economic blocs, it’s also about collaboration. The EC signed an agreement in September with China to make “5G a reality by 2020” and has similar agreements with South Korea and Japan.