Pierre Jacobs, Grand Ouest director of Orange.
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F. Brenon / 20Minutes
"A moratorium decided by a mayor not to do 5G, I do not know what it is", advance Pierre Jacobs.
"The authorizations to transmit are given by the national frequency agency", he recalls.
Orange tested the use of 5G for a year with 389 Nantes customers.
A few days before the launch of the 5G attribution market in France, the debate is heated on the relevance of this new mobile technology and its effects on health.
Emmanuel Macron mocked the opposition on Tuesday.
Conversely, several mayors have expressed frank reluctance, starting with that of Nantes, Johanna Rolland, who, as part of her political agreement with environmentalists, has promised a moratorium on the subject, accompanied by a public debate .
A prospect that does not seem to frighten Orange, determined to become a major player in the deployment of 5G in France, after having experienced it for a year in five cities, including the city of the dukes.
“I read the press.
I see the initiatives.
But I don't know what a moratorium decided by a mayor is in order not to do 5G, ”replied Pierre Jacobs, director of the Greater West of the telecommunications operator and distributor, present this Thursday in Nantes as part of the Digital Week.
"So far, I have seen campaign comments"
"The 5G that we deployed for our experiment was installed on sites [antennas] which already house Orange 4G," he explains.
So we cannot be forbidden to go home.
And then the authorizations to transmit are given by the National Frequency Agency.
From the moment it authorizes us to open a site, the definition of municipal moratorium remains to be clarified.
If we respect all the rules and we are allocated frequencies, there is no reason not to launch commercially, in Nantes as elsewhere, in a few months.
"
What will happen if the municipality insists on refusing this deployment?
“I don't like science fiction, proclaims Pierre Jacobs.
So far I have seen campaign comments.
I was surprised that some people have such a strong opinion on 5G when we are only at the beginning of this technology.
If the community wishes to discuss, we will discuss.
If the moratorium is to stop working for a year or more, I would find that excessive in relation to the objective that the company is setting for itself.
5G already exists in the world.
Thirty countries have already launched it, including in Europe.
"
The regional director of Orange underlines that the experiment carried out for a year in the Nantes metropolis with 389 customers and from twenty relay antennas had "not been the subject of stop requests" .
"It seems that the mayor of Nantes and the president of the metropolis was the same as today," he quipped.
"We cannot be in denial of the new technology"
Often formulated by environmentalists, criticism of 5G crystallizes around the risk of waves to health and the negative impact on the environment.
“The exposure thresholds are tightly controlled in France.
Our health authorities also set thresholds which are often lower than what the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends ”, responds Pierre Jacobs, who also assures us that 5G“ will consume much less in terms of energy ”.
The Orange representative insists above all on the new uses that 5G would allow for a community.
“Optimizing my trips, optimizing my water consumption, better managing waste collection, I'm sorry, but that can't be done with a daisy in your mouth while looking at the sky.
This is done with adapted connected tools and 5G will make it possible to provide information very quickly.
We cannot be in denial about the use of new technology to improve the life of the city.
"
According to Orange, 65% of Nantes users who have experimented with 5G (with a loan of a compatible mobile phone) were "satisfied or very satisfied".
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