Earlier this week (25 June 2024), the 3.5 GHz frequencies for 5G were auctioned off to commercial parties by the Dutch government. This defines who owns our digital public space until 2040. And therefore, what the Dutch 5G network will look like in the near and medium term. To state the least, it is remarkable that the government is auctioning off this space for exclusive exploitation by a few commercial giants, state Imme Ruarus of Waag Futurelab, Niels ten Oever of the University of Amsterdam and Vivien Butot of InHolland University of Applied Sciences. They argue that the design of our digital infrastructure should not be exclusively in the hands of a few large technology companies, but rather should be designed together with society.
Read the full article in Dutch.
