What does the G of 5G networks mean?
It's a generation G. And it means that we already have five generations of mobile phone networks. And we are in the fifth.
The one of the giant Motorolas that were installed in cars in the nineties was the 1G?
1G or 0G, depending on how we look at it. We achieved the great technological leap with 2G, which was a European success story: the great European technological success story.
Why was it so European?
It was the first digital European generation, and the EU said then that it wanted a single window, the same technology for all patenting countries. And it was a success.
What did that window mean?
The mobile can be used the same here as in China or the US; but the EU companies agreed so that a single patent, the same invention, would be authorized at once for all European countries. And that had a huge economic impact.
What if a Chinese mobile stopped serving here in the EU?
It would be a consequence of the rupture of today's globalized supply chains, and this globalization has achieved that we have a single market for mobile phones and components. If we fragment or divide it because of the Ukrainian war or some other geopolitical cause...
...Mobile phones would be very expensive?
If the current global technology market were to fragment, we would all lose a lot and the prices and cost of mobile telephony would skyrocket.
Who would win?
We would all lose; because, furthermore, in order to progress in technology, competition must be generated, and if we were to divide innovation centers, markets, manufacturers, supply chains... we would stop competing, and progress would stop.
Why is there no European Google?
Not a Netflix; neither a Twitter, nor a Facebook, nor a European Amazon. That is what we should ask ourselves.
Is it already too late?
What we can and must do is look to the future, and 5G and 6G offer us a new opportunity to start over and innovate again, develop... Launch everything. It's as if before we had YouTube we said: "What can we invent?".
What can we invent now?
Now we have the opportunity to create our Facebook, a European Facebook, but which, in addition to offering video, allows the creation and distribution in 3D; and, furthermore, the internet of things… Let's give ourselves another chance.
Will 6G be almost like universal Wi-Fi?
6G does not exist. It's not even defined yet, but what we already know is that we're headed for Wi-Fi everywhere: ubiquitous and with massive bandwidth.
And will it be expensive for the ordinary user?
Well, there is the competition: to make compatible what is possible and what the industrialist can afford.
Will it go everywhere?
Reach. And, in fact, Spain is already one of the places where the internet reaches the best and where governments focus on the connectivity of the population. In that we are leaders.
Are you also worried that kids are too glued to the phone?
Like any parent I worry about where they are, if they are online for too long; who they are connected to and who they should not be connected to.
How to regulate your children's access to technology without curbing their technological expertise?
To regulate communication efficiently you have to communicate. You have to continually talk to them about what they see and don't see, the time they spend in front of the screen and what they spend it on, and test limits and prohibitions. What works is talking about it.
What is the right balance?
Communication between generations for technology to achieve a fair compromise between virtuality, immersion in the cloud and immersion in reality.
Should Google and other platforms pay Spain for using their infrastructure?
From what size or income do we start charging them? It is difficult to define a border to say that you have to start paying. Telephony was initially a public service that was privatized, but it still retains its vocation as a public infrastructure.
Who will win the current chip war?
China and the US are settling the hegemony of the planet and in that rivalry they have chosen chips as the battlefield. On the other hand, in ASML, the European factory, there are 200 Spanish engineers; because our emphasis is on collaboration, but maybe we should learn that you also have to compete.
But who do you think has the upper hand?
To lose, everyone; and to win, only those who collaborate. Taiwan could be in silicon what Europe was in coal and steel after the World War: territory to share.
