Is the 5G Network Expansion in Switzerland Stalling?
With the 5G roll-out, Switzerland is at the top of the European league, and also on a global level, it can be seen to be at the forefront when it comes to the most modern and, above all, fastest type of mobile Internet connection. But further 5G network roll-out could be delayed by decades because citizens’ initiatives and cantons are opposing the approval of 5G antennas – for fear of a health risk that has not been proven at all.
High 5G limit means more antennas and more expensive tariffs
In the “Bericht Mobilfunk und Strahlung” (Report Mobile radio and radiation), which was published on behalf of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (UVEK) in November last year on the topic 5G roll-out in Switzerland, a horror scenario is outlined:
If the status quo in terms of radiation limits is maintained, some 26000 new sites would have to be found in Switzerland for 5G antennas. In addition, around 5000 existing antenna systems would have to be retrofitted.
In this scenario, it would take around 20 to 30 years for 5G roll-out to achieve nationwide coverage in Switzerland with a good quality 5G network. The expansion costs would amount to CHF 7.7 billion. In the end, the customer pays these horrendous costs.
For these reasons, the industry would like the limits to be lowered. This could save many years of construction time, as fewer 5G antennas would be needed, and many billions of Swiss francs could also be saved. This would probably mean much cheaper 5G tariffs.
However, particularly anxious voices want to go in a different direction. Some skeptics want to ban 5G completely. Another possibility would be to raise the current limits. In a worst-case scenario, the “Report on Mobile Communications and Radiation” assumes that if the limits are raised, there will be a need for 46500 new 5G antennas, 13 billion Swiss francs in expansion costs and an expansion period of over 30 years.
Is the 5G expansion dangerous for health?
But is the fear of 5G even justified? Is the expansion of 5G dangerous? There is no evidence that the expansion of 5G poses a threat to health. Above all, the currently installed 5G antennas work with waves similar to those of 4G technology. And 4G has already been used for mobile telephony in Switzerland for years.
It is even true that 5G sometimes means less exposure to radiation, as the “Report Mobilfunk und Strahlung” points out: “5G emits […] five times less control signals than 4G, which reduces exposure during periods of low data traffic.
Where there is a particular need for research is in the area of so-called millimetre waves, which should enable a speed of more than 20 gigabits per second in the 5G network. However, these millimetre waves, which operate in a higher frequency range, are not yet in use, and according to the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) there is not even a timetable indicating when this type of 5G technology will be used.
Anyone who wants to find out what the knowledge community thinks about millimetre waves should read the following alao article about the question if 5G is really dangerous.
Despite 5G moratoria, the 5G rollout continues
In some regions of Switzerland there is considerable resistance to 5G. This is so far-reaching that the cantons of Geneva, Vaud and Jura have imposed a moratorium on further 5G rollout.
Although at the end of 2019 it looked as if the roll-out of 5G in Switzerland would come to a standstill, the facts speak a different language. The “Tagesanzeiger” had observed that the 5G roll-out map of the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM), on which all 5G antenna sites are listed, had only shown 662 antenna sites for 5G on 1 December 2019. However, at the beginning of 2020, there were suddenly 2295 sites with 5G antennas.
The reason for this rapid increase in 5G roll-out in Switzerland was a software upgrade by Swisscom for 4G installations, which could have converted them to 5G installations, the newspaper continues. With this trick, Swisscom’s 5G expansion could have avoided the 5G moratoria in Geneva and Vaud. Because, the “Tagesanzeiger” quotes a Swisscom press spokesman as saying that no building permit was needed for a software update.
The only catch with these software-based 5G systems is that they can only achieve speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s. Swisscom markets this 5G-light under the name 5G-wide. By comparison, the real 5G, which Swisscom also offers, achieves a whole 2 Gbit/s. However, this network, which Swisscom calls 5G-fast, is available in far fewer locations (201 towns) than 5G-wide, which is already expected to reach 90 per cent of the Swiss population.
Sunrise also offers real 5G with speeds of up to 2 Gbps. Through the 5G expansion of Sunrise, 5G has already been brought through Sunrise in 384 localities. The mobile phone provider Salt has also started to expand the 5G network, but the first 5G antennas were not put into operation until the second half of 2019.
So you can say: 5G is on the way, one way or another.
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