The 5G sceptics are pleased about this: Martin Forter, for example, says that the doctors for environmental protection have been demanding for two years that the current radiation limits should not be increased. “We are very pleased that this is happening now.”
Competitive disadvantage without 5G?
The telecommunications industry, on the other hand, is reacting angrily. It is not only a missed opportunity for an important competitive advantage, says Peter Grütter, president of asut, the Swiss Telecommunications Industry Association. “There is even a risk that we will be at a competitive disadvantage compared to our neighbors.”
Three years ago, the Federal Council itself presented an almost 200-page report on the digital economy. Its tenor: Digitization is an opportunity for the business location. It simply doesn’t fit in with this, says FDP National Councillor Kurt Fluri, who is also a member of the FDP. “It is undisputed that the use of mobile phone systems will increase.”
5G – faster, but also more dangerous?
However, there is also strong political resistance to higher mobile phone transmission strengths, whether through popular initiatives or objections. And also the Council of States has already twice rejected a loosening of the limit value. Now, in the middle of the biggest health crisis in decades, the Federal Council is even more reluctant to fight this political battle, Fluri suspects.
30 years for the 5G expansion?
With the Federal Council’s decision, the expansion of a 5G network in Switzerland could take longer. It will take 20 to 30 years if the limit is not loosened, according to a report by a broad-based working group commissioned by the federal government. However, SP National Councillor Matthias Aebischer, who welcomes the maintenance of the limit values, finds this hard to believe.
So far, the mobile phone providers had said with every step of expansion that it would go on forever. “But then things went much faster than they had predicted,” said Aebischer.
In fact, it had initially looked like a rapid expansion in Switzerland. Just over a year ago, the Swiss government auctioned off 5G licenses for a comparatively moderate CHF 380 million. The last such action had still flushed 1 billion into the federal coffers. But now there is not much of it, the industry criticizes.
5G proponents do not give up
SP National Councillor Aebischer emphasises that the telecom companies were well aware of the rules of the game before the auction. “Anyone who buys a Ferrari also knows that there is a speed limit of 120 km/h on the motorways. He can’t expect it to be changed.
The 5G supporters, however, are not yet admitting defeat: if the Federal Council does not move forward, his faction will become active with pushes, says FDP National Councillor Fluri. The telecommunications industry, in turn, wants to intervene directly with the Federal Council. So the pressure from the economy will remain – as will that of the opposition.
Source : www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/
