From Connectivity to Control
How 4G, 5G and 6G redefine Europe’s technological and economic power
For most European consumers, the transition from 4G to 5G has felt underwhelming. Video streams load just as fast, messages arrive instantly and smartphones look unchanged. Yet beneath this apparent continuity, mobile networks are undergoing their most profound transformation since their invention. What is changing is not speed, but function — and with it, who creates value, who controls infrastructure and who sets the rules.
4G made Europe mobile.
5G must make Europe productive.
6G will determine whether Europe remains a system architect — or becomes a dependent user of networks designed elsewhere.
This is not a story about faster internet. It is a story about power.
Read MoreWhen Infrastructure Becomes Narrative
AI in the RAN and the cultural design of Europe’s digital public space
Europe has always expressed its values through infrastructure. Roman roads were not merely paths of stone; they were instruments of order and reach. Railways shaped the industrial nation-state. Broadcasting networks created mass culture and democratic publics. Infrastructure, in other words, has never been neutral. It is where political intent quietly hardens into daily reality.
Today, Europe is building a new kind of infrastructure — one that no longer merely connects, but decides. Artificial intelligence is moving into the Radio Access Network (RAN): the layer of telecom infrastructure that governs how devices connect, how signals are prioritised and how digital presence unfolds in physical space. This shift is often framed as a technical upgrade — lower latency, higher efficiency, smarter traffic management. Yet this framing misses the deeper transformation underway.
AI in the RAN marks the moment when infrastructure itself becomes narrative.
Read MoreAI as a Motor—or a Knife?
The Digital Downsizing at ABN AMRO
Highlights
- AI is not an automatic scalpel: layoffs are often driven by cost-cutting, not technological necessity.
- Human oversight is being reduced: replacing employees without redeployment weakens compliance and customer safety.
- Short-term incentives dominate: quick financial gains steer AI usage toward job cuts rather than productivity.
- AI-native ≠ automation: true AI integration requires collaboration, unified data and governance—not just technology.
- The social responsibility remains: past anti-money laundering failures and vulnerable clients demand human-in-the-loop control.
- Trust is the currency: efficiency alone means little if employees and customers lose faith in the bank.
