Swisscom, Sunrise UPC win legal battle over 5G moratorium in Geneva

The constitutional chamber of the canton of Geneva has repealed the cantonal law imposing a moratorium on the expansion of 5G mobile networks, business news agency awp Finanznachrichten reports. The court found the law to be contrary to higher law. https://tinyurl.com/2awujsrw

Justice overturns tightened Geneva 5G moratorium https://www.finanzen.ch/nachrichten/konjunktur/justiz-kippt-verschaerftes-genfer-g5-moratorium-1030329868

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04/21/2021

Bern (awp / sda) – The constitutional chamber in Geneva has repealed the cantonal law with an increased moratorium on the expansion of the 5G mobile network. The court found the law to be contrary to higher law. The Grand Council passed the law in 2020.

The three mobile phone providers Swisscom, Sunrise and UPC thus won the legal dispute, as “Le Temps” reported on Wednesday. The judgment is available to the Keystone-SDA news agency. The canton parliament wanted to prevent the expansion of the mobile network for three years by changing the building legislation.

The law made a building permit mandatory for all changes to cell phone systems. This adjustment tightened the canton’s 5G moratorium passed in 2019, which bans new antennas.

In the judgment passed on April 15, the Chamber justified its decision as regards to violations of federal law. With the law on the protection of the population against harmful radiation, the federal government is responsible for setting limit values. In addition, the building law prevents providers from fulfilling their supply mandate laid down by federal law.

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Neil Zolot / medford@wickedlocal.com

Published April 5th, 2021

City officials are imposing some conditions on Verizon on installations of 5G telecommunications equipment on utility poles around the city, but will be required to approve the vast majority of the 44 applications, most of which are in Medford Square, South Medford and the Hillside area.

After hours of public testimony on the matter during a video-conference meeting Wednesday, March 31, the Ad Hoc Small Cell Committee decided to hold off on dealing with each application until April 8.

“Federal law is very strong; it prohibits municipalities, when acting as a regulatory authority, from effectively prohibiting wireless telecommunications,” Robin Stein of legal consultant KP Law told the board. “You can’t deny based on health considerations. Federal law is explicit that you can’t consider health and environmental concerns. You can impose a condition so long as that is not going to effectively prohibit their ability to install the facility and provide wireless service.”

Her advice confirmed statements made by Verizon legal representative Michael Giaimo of Robinson and Cole that the applications were “not inconsistent with federal law” and “municipalities may not decide based on health concerns.”

Some of the conditions will probably be compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, setbacks, prohibition of detectable noise, keeping the equipment in good order, prohibiting double poling and holding Verizon financially responsible for costs in preparing poles for installations and costs related to lighting.

Small Cell Committee Chairman and City Engineer Tim McGovern pressed for an annual maintenance schedule, to which Giaimo responded, “I don’t think we’re going to want to do that.”

He also mentioned an internal malfunction detection system. Small Cell Committee member and Director of Community Development & Energy and Environment Alicia Hunt conceded, “We’ll just have to trust it works.”

The idea of shrouding the installation was brought up. Giaimo said Verizon would ask for a waiver on that because shrouds negatively affect the system.

Read more at: https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/medford-transcript/2021/04/05/medford-officials-residents-opposed-5-g-despite-concerns-over-health/7066907002/

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Auto translated from https://www.lematin.ch/story/pres-de-3000-antennes-5g-activees-en-suisse-123577519701?fbclid=IwAR0r2981-2-9KUFQFkLNrcKGjqGzLuSKc084WqKCJhV7aYtu-cKj7XL_bfs

08/23/2020

by Eric Felley

This is a figure that is climbing every week or so. The number of 5G antennas activated in Switzerland will soon reach 3000. Journalist Valentin Tombez from the “RTS” publishes on Twitter, without further comment, the growth of the antennas activated thanks to a link he created with the site of the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM).

At the same time last year, there were about 300. If those 3000 antennas are activated, are they still used? On this subject, OFCOM specifies: “Operators are obliged to regularly inform us of their antennas which are in service and therefore activated and functional. However, we do not have any information on the rate of use of the antennas ”. The office does not have an estimate on the proportion of people who already use 5G in Switzerland.

Swisscom: a minority of users

In February 2019, three operators bought concessions from the Confederation for 380 million francs: Swisscom, Sunrise and Salt. At Swisscom, spokesperson Christian Neuhaus explains: “We currently have 745 5G antennas, full version, in service, in 348 localities”. Are there any customers among their customers who are already fluent in 5G? “We do not communicate figures, but it is obviously a minority”.

The spokesperson added: “We deployed a basic version of 5G at the end of last year. It covers about 90% of the population. The basic version uses frequencies long allocated to mobile telephony which are gradually being used for 5G. These allow area coverage with a data rate of up to 1Gbit / s. Added to this is the frequency (3.5 GHz) released last year, which was previously used for TV reporting. We need it for the full version ”.

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Sunrise and its 5G Highspeed

But for Sunrise, which placed the first 5G antenna in the summer of 2018, there is no question of delaying. The operator offers a card on its site , where we can see that its 5G offer is already in place. “Sunrise currently provides more than 595 cities or places with Highspeed 5G (in the 3.5 GHz bands) with Internet connection speeds of up to 2 Gbit / s, explains its press service. The list of localities shows towns and places where the population coverage by the Highspeed 5 g is greater than 80% ”. Sunrise also wants to “cover 90% of the population with Basic 5G in the lower bands (700 MHz) by the third quarter”.

Salt: moratoriums contrary to federal law

In this context, the Salt operator is more discreet. Its press service specifies that it is in the process of deploying its 5G network: “The tests are being finalized and the launch will take place in the near future”. Salt is however determined to rise to the challenge: “We bought these frequencies at the auction in 2019 and there is no suspensive effect from initiatives whose outcome is uncertain. Applicable law must be observed until it is adapted. Furthermore, the moratoriums in the cantons mentioned are contrary to federal law ”.

Read more at: https://www.lematin.ch/story/pres-de-3000-antennes-5g-activees-en-suisse-123577519701?fbclid=IwAR0r2981-2-9KUFQFkLNrcKGjqGzLuSKc084WqKCJhV7aYtu-cKj7XL_bfs

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