# Analysis of Digital Skills and Infrastructure in EU Countries Based on DESI 2024 Data
## 5 Discussion  
Digital skills are one of the most critical factors influencing society's and the economy's digital transformation. Even with a developed ICT sector, weak digital skills in civil society will hinder its further development due to the low active use of the opportunities already provided to society. It is important to analyze separately the level of digital skills for consumers and digital skills for professionals working in the ICT sector. Analyzing the level of their skills, comparing them with the best and average values in EU countries, and aligning them with the needs of sectors will contribute to developing the countries' economies.  
A high level of digital skills among both citizens and IT specialists is a good assistance in the digital transformation of the country, but the basis for this is and always will be digital infrastructure. Therefore, the transition to advanced digital infrastructures that are secure, resilient, and capable of supporting future applications in different sectors can be considered a strategic challenge for the EU.  
Among fixed wired communications, the best opportunities and prospects today are provided by fiber-optic communications. The average value for FTTP coverage for EU27 countries is 63.99%.  
As for wireless mobile technologies, it is recommended to focus on the development of 5G technology, especially on those components that ensure highly reliable communication with ultra-low delays. The latter is very promising for the rapid improvement of the quality of the digital economy in certain industries.  
5G SIM card service is also not yet widespread in Europe. The average penetration of this service does not exceed a quarter of the total population, although there are three countries where this value exceeds 100%.  
DESI indicators must evolve in step with next-generation digital technologies. Currently, DESI 2024 does not include data on the separate use of the 5G frequency band (24.25 GHz-52.6 GHz). Adding such an indicator would allow assessing a country's readiness for technological leaps in areas that require extremely low latency, high speeds, and reliability. Examples of such technologies include smart vehicles, remote control of critical devices, and remote surgery.  
One of the latest trends in the development of the EU's digital infrastructure is edge networking. Edge networking minimizes latency because client devices communicate not with remote processing devices, but with peripheral nodes located nearby. Edge networking enables the implementation of edge computing, which in turn provides companies the means to change the way they do business. Ultimately, this technology will allow organizations to improve service efficiency and security while reducing costs. It should be noted that different edge networks have different requirements for edge nodes in terms of bandwidth, computing power, power consumption, and network connectivity. Edge networking may require increased reliability and resilience. If so, networks should be designed with redundant edge nodes in order to provide customer service in the case of node failure.  
Finally, it should also be noted that the issue of network infrastructure security is now coming to the fore. Various methods are being developed to improve data transmission security, such as enhancing 5G Network Slicing Security by using Artificial Intelligence and Soft Defined Networks (SDN) [28], ensuring traffic protection when only passive optical components are used in remote nodes of the Wavelength Division Multiplexer passive optical networks (WDM-PON) network [29], bypassing distrustful routers at packet routing [30], and special algorithms for the detection of DDoS attacks for SDN [31]. The review [32] presents the area of risks in information security of smart cities, and provides literature sources relevant to cloud threats and security attacks, including attacks on Internet of Things devices. Despite this, DESI materials still do not contain indicators that could assess the security status of digital infrastructure.