Paris (AFP)
Two NGOs announced Friday a legal action against the call for candidates launched in December for the allocation of 5G frequencies, as well as a petition against the deployment of this controversial technology expected as a revolution in mobile telephony.
By allowing very large amounts of data to be transmitted much faster than current mobile telephony, 5G promises the development of futuristic technologies, autonomous cars, remote surgery, automated factories and connected objects.
But it also raises many concerns from some, linked to its potential health or environmental impact.
"We reverse things: we make the decision and we think after (...). We have almost nothing on health and environmental assessments," said AFP Stephen Kerckhove, general manager of Agir. for the Environment which is waging this battle with the Priartem-Electrosensibles association of France.
The Telecoms Regulatory Authority (Arcep) launched in late December the procedure for allocating radio frequencies between 3.4 GigaHertz and 3.8 GHz, the conditions of which are specified in a decree published in the Official Journal on December 31.
It is this decree that Agir pour l'Environnement and Priartem want to have annulled, said their lawyer François Lafforgue, indicating that an appeal would be filed before the Council of State by mid-February or in any case before February 25, the date until which operators can apply for the auction.
The NGOs denounce the absence of environmental assessment and request the application of the precautionary principle in terms of exposure to waves, but they also highlight the broader societal impacts of this new technology.
"5G is the hyperconnectivity of everything and everyone, it is a rocking of society. And the Man in all that?", Says Sophie Pelletier, president of Priartem.
The petition "stop 5G" posted online by these NGOs on Friday (www.stop5g.fr), on the eve of World Day against 5G, also highlights the increase in energy consumption expected.
With 5G, "the energy consumption of mobile operators would be multiplied by 2.5 to 3 in the next five years", which would represent "a 2% increase in the country's electricity consumption", had estimated in a column published in Le Monde in early January Jean-Marc Jancovici and Hugues Ferreboeuf, from the think tank The ShiftProject. Without counting the energy for the manufacture of terminals, servers, and all connected objects.
Arcep recognized on Friday the need for a debate on the "social challenges" raised by these "networks of the future", announcing consultations with stakeholders before a day of discussion in early June.
"This is the right timing for a social debate on the issues of environment, sovereignty, or exposure to the waves," said AFP president Sébastien Soriano, stressing that 5G would develop "petit little by little "and that the new features should not arrive in France before 2022 or 2023.
"Usually when there is a new technology, the Arcep is rather in the camp of techno-enthusiasts (...) there of course it is not a question of going into the camp of techno-skeptics but we are shrinking from notch, our desire is to enter this debate in a truly neutral way, "he said.
© 2020 AFP