Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom launch their 5G network in Paris

People walking past a window of an Orange store in Bordeaux advertising the telephone operator's 5G network on February 23, 2021. AFP - PHILIPPE LOPEZ

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The 5G network, the new generation of mobile telephony, will be well launched this Friday, March 19 in Paris, which thus takes over from Lyon, Strasbourg or Bordeaux where 5G has been in place since the end of 2020. The operators had initiated a consultation with the City Council, which ended up validating the launch of the network this month in exchange for guarantees, particularly environmental ones.

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SFR, Orange and Bouygues Telecom will kick off 5G in Paris this Friday.

To finally get there, the operators had to work for a long time with the elected representatives in

order to remove local reluctance

, by organizing a citizens' convention, by revising the mobile telephone charter and by increasing the number of consultations.

Under the charter, operators have made commitments to accelerate the recycling of mobile terminals.

They also undertake to respect power thresholds for their antennas that are much lower than the maximum authorized standards.

For now, only 80 sites will be activated out of the potential hundreds.

But eventually, promises the CEO of SFR, 80% of the population of Paris will be covered by the new technology which takes over from 4G and offers much higher download speeds.

Numerous studies have pointed to the impatience of the public and companies who hope to boost their performance with this technology.

But reluctance, particularly regarding health risks, is far from having been lifted everywhere.

If some cities like Nantes are about to get started, in Lille, the mayor prefers to wait for the opinion of the health agency in the coming weeks before authorizing the deployment of 5G.

► To read also: Deployment, potential risks, Huawei ... What you need to know about 5G

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