The Agency for Technological Reform of the State (ARTE) has published the Global Report on the Impact Assessment of 5G in Public Administration. This document outlines the key findings of the use of 5G technology in projects conducted by Portuguese public bodies and its potential to modernise public services.
5G enables a new generation of digital services by offering greater connectivity capacity, lower latency, and support for solutions based on emerging technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, edge computing, video analytics, and autonomous systems. These features create the right conditions for developing public services that are more efficient, smarter, and better tailored to the needs of citizens and businesses.
The report is based on monitoring 15 pilot projects using 5G in public administration, spanning sectors such as health, education, justice, defence, mobility, agriculture, the environment, and citizen services. Ten of these projects were supported by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) under Call for Proposals No. 103/C19-i01/2024, while the remainder were funded from other sources.
The results demonstrate the tangible benefits of process digitalisation, enhanced operational efficiency, improved service delivery and a better user experience. This confirms the potential of 5G as a catalyst for the digital transformation of the public sector.
The publication of this report marks the culmination of ARTE's efforts between 2022 and 2026. These efforts included analysing international trends, defining a strategic vision for the adoption of 5G in public administration, identifying and assessing use cases, and finally monitoring the implemented projects.
This report fulfils RRP target #1622 and will be a valuable resource for future initiatives adopting advanced technologies in the public sector.
These documents are only available in Portuguese.