On the front line in the face of controversies over the deployment of 5G, Cédric O wanted to reassure the most worried while raising his tone against the positions taken by certain elected officials, such as in Lille.
The Secretary of State for Digital denounces the decisions taken by the mayors and details how the State will control more closely the waves received by the population.
The actions are multiplying to delay the deployment of 5G, what would happen if France were to accumulate too late?
CÉDRIC O.
The first short-term effect would be the saturation of the networks, so it would be necessary to urgently redeploy several 4G antennas in the big cities to do the work of a single 5G antenna which also pollutes 20 times less.
Secondly, manufacturers perceive this technology as essential for development, so it would be a terrible signal for our attractiveness, especially at a time when we are fighting to recreate industrial employment.
You must be aware that in international competition, there are already 100 million Chinese who have a 5G package, that the United States has already deployed thousands of antennas and that 12 European countries have already launched their 5G networks.
Martine Aubry and the Lille city council adopted a moratorium on the deployment of 5G overnight from Friday to Saturday, do you understand this opposition?
This decision is an incomprehensible tartufferie coming from a former minister.
They are not at the level of the debate.
To say that there are still uncertainties about the frequencies used for 5G is to lie to the French.
If Martine Aubry has any doubts, she must take the time to read the scientific studies.
Since 2003, ANSES has produced a report on telephone waves every year and they have systematically concluded that there is no impact on health below the limit values.
I do not understand where are the courage and political responsibility of elected officials who call for a moratorium.
It is an attitude of washing hands like Pontius Pilate because Martine Aubry in Lille or Eric Piolle in Grenoble know very well that they need 5G to avoid a saturation of the networks which would be indefensible in front of their citizens.
It is easier for them to drape themselves in their probity and let the State assume its responsibilities.
I find that the attitude of Anne Hidalgo who rejects the idea of a moratorium in Paris is infinitely more courageous and responsible.
I note that the mayor of Bordeaux did not finally vote for a moratorium by his municipal council.
READ ALSO>
Auctions, health impact, deployment: the development of Arcep on 5G
Will the state go to arm wrestling with communities trying to slow down deployment?
Newsletter - Most of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le Parisien
I'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to enable you to receive our news and commercial offers.
Learn more
The only power of a mayor is to prevent the access of an operator to an antenna site located on the social housing stock, but they cannot prevent the deployment whose frequencies have just been allocated.
5G will be in place by the end of the year.
How do you plan to reassure the mayors?
We wish, within the framework of a transparent control plan dedicated to 5G, to systematize the information of the mayors before the deployment of the new antennas and to strengthen the controls of the telephones which are, even more than the antennas, the first source of exposure to electromagnetic waves.
In detail, the ANFR (Agence Nationale des Fréquences), an independent organization, will double the number of checks on smartphones in 2021. It will therefore carry out 140 checks on the public's exposure to airwaves, that is to say the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) of a device.
This volume will allow the best-selling 5G smartphones to be targeted and complete tests on different software versions.
There were 3,066 antennas exposure checks in 2019, we will do 6,500 in 2020 and 10,000 in 2021, including 4,800 priority measurements on 5G Telecom equipment.
All of this data will be made public.
I want as many of these checks to be made at the request of mayors or approved associations.
We are going to give the ANFR the means to answer questions about the impact of the deployment of 5G.
Finally, we are also going to launch additional studies on the 26 Ghz frequency band, which will be the next generation of 5G deployed within 2 to 3 years.
PODCAST. Why the deployment of 5G electrifies the debate
What will the ANSES report bring, expected in March 2021, when it will only be based on data from abroad in the absence of 5G experience in France?
There have been 28,000 international studies, in particular by ANSES, on the subject of magnetic waves since the 1950s and none has come to a different conclusion on their dangerousness.
Science tells us today that there is no health impact if we respect the exposure limit values.
The exposure of the French to airwaves is 150 to 200 times lower than the limits recognized in the world.
This report will not be an empty shell because we have asked ANSES to update its conclusions and it is very likely that the 28,001st report will go in the same direction as the previous ones.
The challenge is to confirm for 5G what we already know for other frequencies already in use or for wi-fi.
All the health authorities of the 12 European countries that already have 5G have extrapolated their studies to this new frequency and have come to the same conclusion on the absence of harmfulness.
We are therefore confident on this point.
Do you expect an increase at the end of the year in appeals from associations against 5G or even ZADs against future antenna sites?
I don't think there is a legal surface to oppose the deployment as it is intended.
Those who want to oppose the right to connection of all French people pose a democratic problem because it is a strong demand from citizens.
We find that those who would like to tackle 5G are the same ones who set fire to 4G pylons and dedicated fiber optic cabinets, I'm not sure this is the company the French want.
Our priority is to finalize the coverage of the territory in 4G and mobile.
