5G: des risques mesurés et des per - spectives positives

Among the major fears that are emerging among the population, we can now cite the fifth generation of mobile telecommunication: 5G.

Mise en place rapide ou moratoires?
On the one hand, the private sector - telecommunications operators, certainly, but also a large number of other companies wanting to benefit from the increased capabilities of 5G - is pushing for rapid deployment. In fact, the first frequencies were obtained by the Confederation in February this year, and operators have already begun to deploy their new networks.

On the other hand, various organisations are raising the fear of unmanaged, harmful effects on health and nature. These fears concern, first and foremost, the multiplication of radio and fixed antennas, the potential reduction in new frequency bands (millimetric antennas) and even the potential increase in the power of antennas. This agitation is currently causing some local authorities to try to oppose the arrival of 5G, or at the very least, to declare moratoria. However, the cantonal authorities remain silent to the extent that the allocation of radio frequencies and concessions for the use of telecommunications antennas is governed by federal law. In addition, the Member States will be able to implement the new network from a territorial development perspective.

Un volume de données mobiles qui double chaque année
A working group was set up last year under the auspices of the Federal Office for the Environment (OFEV), with the mission of analysing "the needs of mobile telephony and the risks in terms of long-term and medium-term radiation, particularly in the context of the introduction of 5G". Le rapport est attendu dans le cou rant de cette année, mais il n'est pas sûr que ses conclusions, quelles qu'elles soient, mett ront un terme à la polémique. Elles s'ajou teront à de nombreuses autres études, parfois contradictoires, où chacun puise ce qu'il veut. Above all, we must make an effort to form our own ideas by assessing the risks and benefits of this new stage in technology. According to the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM), the volume of data exchanged on mobile networks doubles every year, and the 3G and 4G networks used to date are beginning to reach their limits. 5G allows us to reduce reaction times, increase bit rates and increase the number of connected devices by 100 at the same time. These additional capacities are necessary, in particular, for the deceleration of connected objects, communication between machines and autonomous vehicles.

The frequencies currently attributed to 5G, above 3500 MHz, are not very close to those used by 4G (up to 2600 MHz). The use of millimetric frequencies (up to 24 000 MHz), which is the source of much concern, is not a matter of fact.

The values for protection against non-ionising radiation (defined in the ORNI ordinance) have not been modified. However, a debate is under way on a possible increase in the power limits of antennas. In Switzerland, these limits are currently about six times stricter than those recommended by the OMS and approved in many other countries. A comparison with the

"Au-delà de l'utilisation privée qui est encore appelée à croître, la 5G se profile aussi et surtout comme faisant partie des conditions cadres attendues par beaucoup d'entreprises."

international practice allows us to reduce the number of new antennas in Switzerland. It should also be borne in mind that our on-site exposure depends much less on fixed antennas than on the equipment that we have on our screens.

Une prudence raisonnée par l'intelligence
It is wise to be prudent with the implementation of technology, but this prudence must be justified by intelligence, and not to discourage certain miscalculated risk-taking - because someone who does not take any risks does not take any precautions. Pour mémoire, en 1999 déjà, des chercheurs prétendaient mettre en évidence les résultats effrayants des premières générations de télé phonie mobile... Aujourd'hui, this change in guard is a source of sour grapes, and portable telephones are useful to everyone, even environmentalists and enthusiasts of decentralisation!

Apart from private use, which is still being called for, 5G is also, and above all, being profiled as part of the condi tions cadres attended to by many companies. The debate on 5G is being followed attentively by certain companies willing to install themselves in Switzerland or to develop new activities there... or to renounce it if we accept the delay in relation to the infrastructures offered by other countries. Switzerland is certainly free to affirm its sovereignty; but is it not natural that a small state which, based on its economic dynamism and its tourist activity, feels obliged to place its trust in international standards in the field of telecommunications? La communi cation n'est-elle pas le domaine par excellence où il est périlleux de faire cavalier seul? Knowledge of the exact conditions under which these new networks operate, on the one hand, and understanding of the issues involved in this new standard, on the other, We must consider that the new fears among the population are exaggerated and that 5G is rather a technological development that is desirable, and indeed indispensable, for Switzerland.

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