Paris (AFP)

This is the end of a long political soap opera: the telecoms operators Orange and SFR have kicked off 5G in Paris where the network will be put into service from Friday, they announced Thursday to the after a last meeting with the town hall.

Paris will therefore join Strasbourg, Lyon or Bordeaux, where 5G has already been launched, despite local reluctance.

In the matter, it is the State which decides and the mayors cannot legally oppose.

But anxious to avoid controversy, the operators initiated a consultation in Paris, which resulted in a "charter" framing the deployment of 5G in the capital, validated by the city council in early March, following a conference citizen organized by the city at the end of December.

It was the signing of this charter on March 15 by the operators (Bouygues Telecom, Free Mobile, Orange and SFR) that made possible the commercial launch of 5G in Paris, while the Ile-de-France towns in the inner suburbs benefit from the coverage of the latest generation of mobile networks since the end of 2020.

In return, the operators have notably undertaken to "optimize the recycling of telephone equipment" or to promote "digital inclusion".

It remains to be seen whether these guarantees will be sufficient to avoid a clash within the Parisian majority led by the socialist town hall Anne Hidalgo, while his environmental partners have continued to demand a moratorium.

Orange and SFR, the first to have formalized the launch of their respective networks, have announced that they want to deploy exclusively on the 3.5 GHz frequency band, the one "which offers the best speeds".

"By offering 5G this Friday to Parisians, SFR has shown on the one hand its willingness to respect the time for citizen debate, and on the other hand its ability to deploy its 5G network, in compliance with the adopted charter by the Paris Council, "said Grégory Rabuel, CEO of SFR, in a press release.

- Lille pending -

From Paris to Nantes, via Rennes, several green or left-wing mayors of large cities had decided to launch a "public debate" at the end of 2020 to respond in particular to a "need for transparency" about the possible consequences of the deployment of 5G on the environment and health.

Other municipalities like Lille have already announced that they are in favor of a moratorium until the publication scheduled for spring 2021 of a report from the National Health Security Agency (Anses).

"The Council of State was clear: it is not up to the mayors, but to the State to decide, even if some may slow down the process, for example through access to public buildings", however recalled at the end of November the Secretary of State for Digital Cédric O in the Journal du Dimanche.

Operators and public authorities have nevertheless sought to find a political compromise to defuse a subject that has become even more controversial since the Citizen's Climate Convention itself recommended a moratorium this summer.

Several cities, initially recalcitrant, ended up letting operators activate their 5G networks, like Strasbourg, Lyon and Bordeaux.

Bordeaux, led by ecologist Pierre Hurmic, even said it was "sorry" for the opening of local 5G in early February.

"Clearly, we cannot do what we want on our own territory. We are not listened to. The State, despite its great speeches on climate change, does not hear," lamented the deputy mayor Delphine Jamet to AFP.

If 5G promises to offer, in the long term, a speed up to ten times faster, the operators are mainly counting on it for the moment to avoid the saturation of their mobile networks.

© 2021 AFP