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Data, data, data! The Swiss can’t get enough. Consumption doubles every year. Corona has further exacerbated the trend: home office, homeschooling, television and entertainment – the lockdown pushed telecommunications infrastructure to the limit.
But Corona also raised fears. Esotericists and fantasists proclaim that everything is interrelated: Corona, Bill Gates, new technologies. And they are more and more listened to.
The virus crisis illustrates the benefits of digitization and fuels the fear of it. This paradox is particularly evident in the 5G example: the fifth generation of the cellular standard is intended to regulate data traffic between cell phones and antennas, but also to blow up the Internet of things, that is, autonomous cars or systems of communication. smart heating. 5G is ten times faster than the current standard and transmits 100 times more data at the same time.
Two percent use 5G
Solo: this is a long way off, at best. In February 2019, Switzerland was one of the first countries in the world to auction 5G frequencies to mobile operators. Swisscom, Sunrise and Salt immediately inundated customers with huge advertising campaigns. “But today, just over two percent of the Swiss population uses 5G,” says telecom expert Ralf Beyeler (42).
The industry blames the existing radiation limit values for cell phone antennas: only if they are increased, can a 5G network be introduced nationwide. But with this demand, the telecommunications giants in the Bundesbern are biting the spot. After Parliament ruled against it twice, the Federal Council also announced in April: No increase in limit values!
Politicians are reacting to a wave of protests that swept through the country after the frequencies were awarded. Under the slogan “Stop 5G!” The protesters marched through the streets of many cities. Thousands of people protested against “forced radiation” in front of the Bundestag building.
This did not result in uniform movement, but rather in a hodgepodge of small but noisy local groups. What they have in common: The fight against the effects of electromagnetic radiation.
“They influence brain waves,” says Rebekka Meier (29), president of the Association for Radiation Protection. “They reduce the strength of the lungs and impair the functioning of the heart, it is very likely that they are carcinogenic and cause permanent inflammation.” For Meier, increasing the limit values is not an option, on the contrary: “We must reduce them!”
Electromagnetic pollution causes sleep disorders
Various popular initiatives from different groups are calling for it. One of them is the environmental organization Frequencia. Board member Peter Schlegel (78) has been measuring non-ionizing radiation for 20 years: electromagnetic pollution emanating from power lines, household appliances, and cell phone antennas. The ETH engineer says: “In the vicinity of each antenna there are people suffering from insomnia, headaches and other complaints. Not surprisingly, an objection is raised against almost all new antennas. ”
The telecommunications industry, on the other hand, argues: “There has been mobile communications around the world for 20 years,” says Salt CEO Pascal Grieder (43), “but there are no signs of harmful consequences.” Swisscom chief Urs Schaeppi (60) stresses: “In Switzerland, there are limit values for offices, playgrounds and apartments ten times stricter than those confirmed by the WHO.” Sunrise boss André Krause (50) even attacked the Federal Council head-on in an interview with SonntagsBlick: he was too passive and shared the responsibility for blocking the expansion of 5G.
Next week, Federal President Simonetta Sommaruga (60), head of the Department of Communication, will welcome the three heads in Bern for a discussion. There’s no question about it: Telekom representatives will fight hard.
The industry is supported by its main supervisor: Stephan Netzle (62) is the president of the Federal Communications Commission Comcom, which awarded the frequencies on behalf of the Federal Council.
Assign frequencies without conditions
When the government refused to raise the limit values in April, he snapped his neck: “I felt like a junk dealer,” Netzle told SonntagsBlick. “The state has granted the frequencies, but has not been able to create the necessary framework conditions for their use.”
The cantons of Geneva, Vaud and Jura have stopped building 5G-compatible antennas, while others have postponed building permits for months. Reason: The cantons do not have the necessary measurement guidelines. After all: the Federal Office for the Environment wants to present these guidelines shortly.
- two % of Swiss use 5G
- 19’589 Cell phone antennas have been built in Switzerland to this day
- 5 Volts per meter is the limit for Swiss cell phone systems
- 3117 5G antennas are currently on Swiss soil
The discussion about limit values has also started to move. Various attempts have been launched in parliament to increase it, including by green liberals. Its national councilor Katja Christ (48) is working on a motion that calls for a temporary increase in the transmission power and at the same time densifies the antenna network.
But even if the limit values are increased at some point, 5G at the national level is far from being a reality. Then a new building permit is required for all antennas whose transmitting power will be increased to exhaust the new limit value, as confirmed by the Federal Office for the Environment at the request of SonntagsBlick. Industry experts agree that neither politics nor industry has had this hurdle on their radar until now.
“The lawyers would be happy”
There are currently 20,000 antennas in the country. Certainly: there will be objections about the linear meter. “Of course the lawyers will be happy,” says Salt’s boss, Pascal Grieder. But I would prefer this scenario to Switzerland without 5G.
Critics of 5G like Martin Forte (57) naturally see it differently. “A 5G mobile network at the national level is not essential for the advancement of digitization,” says the manager of the organization Doctors for Environmental Protection. “That can also be done with an ultra-fast fiber optic network.” According to Forte, 70 percent of cell phone use is done indoors anyway. “If we connect cell phones, tablets and laptops to the fiber optic network, we need far fewer radio antennas.”
The Council of States of the CVP of Thurgau, Brigitte Häberli-Koller (62), supports this idea. “This does not make all antennas superfluous,” says the author of a query for a sustainable mobile network. “But it is an alternative that we need to investigate further.”
Häberli-Koller is vice president of the Homeowners Association (HEV), which also speaks out against increasing the limit values. “I am not against 5G”, emphasizes the Council of States. “But I put a stop to insecurity in the population.”
If proponents of 5G fail to dispel the widespread discomfort soon and signal the ability to compromise, the total failure of the brave new 5G world is timed.
