The 5G revolution

Every story has two sides. The same is true of 5G, the fifth generation of mobile communications technology.

It is to be rolled out at breakneck speed as the network of the future, across Europe and worldwide, by 2025. Seen through the lens of its supporters, 5G is a necessary milestone in the age of digitalisation, but for others this technology raises concerns about its surveillance capacities and serious harm to people and the environment.

More bandwidth and faster internet

From a technological point of view, 5G simply can do more – much more. Greater bandwidths will allow even faster data transmission (up to ten gigabits per second) and thus an even faster internet connection than its predecessor 4G. With the implementation of 5G, large frequency bands in the electromagnetic spectrum will be released for use; the first frequencies for the new mobile standard in Austria are due to be auctioned as early as autumn 2018. The so-called “pioneer band” of 5G lies in the frequency range from 3.4 to 3.8 GHz, but in future 5G will mainly operate in the millimetre-wave range (30 to 300 GHz).

Beyond even faster internet, however, the introduction of the 5G network is about much more – for example opening up new business models for industries and deploying brand-new technological innovations. Networked production machines, smart household appliances and even self-driving cars could be operated with the support of 5G. 5G has the capacity to connect a large number of smart devices to the internet and to network them with one another, and thus serves as the foundation for the IoT, the Internet of Things. A roadmap presented by the European Commission envisages a consistent, uniform rollout of 5G in all member states of the European Union. The network is to go online in at least one major city in each country by 2020; the aim is to cover all urban areas and transport routes with 5G by 2025.

An environment full of 5G sensors

With the introduction of 5G, large mobile phone masts are to become a thing of the past, because in future small 5G-compatible sensors and antennas in small boxes will shape the look of our surroundings everywhere; they would be installed across the board in both urban and rural areas. A massive installation of 5G masts everywhere in public spaces and close to private homes would be necessary, because in the millimetre-wave band in which 5G is to operate in future, data can only be transmitted over short distances. Sensors in traffic lights, everywhere along the roads, everywhere in the environment. The City of Vienna and the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) recently announced that in the coming years 1,200 new traffic light systems will be equipped with around 10,000 weather and environmental sensors, which are to enable a wide range of applications through “big data analytics”. Processing large amounts of collected data is said to be a method for the “intelligent city of the future” (keyword: smart city), in which physical and virtual objects will be networked with one another via the Internet of Things. The first test phase of such traffic lights along the Ringstrasse is due to take place in 2018.

Processing the huge amounts of data generated by these networked smart systems also requires a large bandwidth, which only 5G can provide. Equipping the country with such a comprehensive 5G infrastructure, which can receive and pass on enormous amounts of data, considerably increases the surveillance possibilities of those parties with access to this data. In addition, there are serious concerns about the health effects of the radiation emitted in the millimetre-wave band in which 5G operates.

5G frequencies

At an international conference of the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies (IIAS) in Jerusalem, results of Israeli research studies were presented which prove that electromagnetic waves in the same frequency range as 5G are also used for crowd-control weapons. According to current research on wireless frequencies, frequencies in the millimetre and submillimetre range interact directly with human skin, in particular with the sweat glands. The scientists warned that more research into the effects on human health is needed before this technology is rolled out across the board. Several scientists expressed concern that current regulations are not sufficient to guarantee public health.

“There is now an urgent need to investigate the effects of 5G on human health before millions of people are exposed to it. We need to know whether 5G increases the risk of skin diseases such as melanoma or other skin cancers,”

says Ron Melnick, scientist at the NIEHS (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences).

In general, the facts about the health consequences of electromagnetic radiation remain highly controversial. In an international appeal to the United Nations (UN) in 2015, 190 scientists from 39 countries called on the World Health Organization (WHO) to introduce more protective guidelines for non-ionising electromagnetic fields. The signatories of the “International EMF Scientist Appeal”, all of whom have published in scientific journals on the biological and health effects of electromagnetic radiation, are calling, on the basis of their research, for better safety measures and for electromagnetic radiation to be permanently reclassified as “probably carcinogenic”. According to the findings of published research, increased cancer risk, DNA damage, the formation of free radicals and possibly also neurological diseases as well as learning and memory deficits can result even at low radiation intensity.

For the former chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Tom Wheeler, however, the first rule in implementing 5G – contrary to the health concerns mentioned – is: “the technology should determine the rules, not the rules the technology”. On safety standards, Wheeler said in a speech in 2016:

”… we will not wait for the standards to be first developed in the sometimes-arduous standards-setting process or in a government-led activity. Instead, we will make ample spectrum available and then rely on a private sector-led process for producing technical standards best suited for those frequencies and use cases.”

In the rapid rollout of 5G, the health concerns of many scientists about the widespread use of the millimetre-wave band mentioned above are not taken into account. 5G is in the process of being introduced at enormous cost to the public and justified by technological progress, while the public is not informed about the full range of consequences – in particular the further development of a potentially totalitarian surveillance system and the associated health risks.

SOURCES:

IT-PRESS.AT (German) RFWIRELESS-WORLD.COM ZAMG.AC.AT (German) EMFSCIENTIST.ORG APPS.FCC.GOV