The ANFR has found emissions in the 3.5GHz band are well below the regulatory limit of 61V/m.
Background: Despite little supporting evidence, there are widespread concerns about the risk to health caused by the emissions of 5G antennas. Mobile masts in the UK and elsewhere have been recently damaged by people concerned about the perceived impact of the new technology – including on its ability to spread coronavirus. On 17 April 2020, the UK regulator Ofcom published its measurements of the level of emissions at 5G sites in the country, finding them to be a small fraction of the maximum limit set out by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).
French measurements confirm the all-clear: On 10 April 2020, the French spectrum agency, the ANFR, published the results of its measurements at 5G pilot sites across the country, which use spectrum in the 3.5GHz band. Across 43 sites, the ANFR found that exposure values were well below the limit of 61V/m set for the 3.5 GHz band. While levels of usage significantly impacted the values recorded, the results varied between 0.65V/m and 9V/m when the antennas were at ‘maximum emission’ in a given direction. Without traffic, the antennas surveyed emitted between 0.1V/m and 0.6V/m, whereas the value varied between 0.8V/m and 1.6V/m during the transmission of 1GB of data in a given direction. The ANFR is proposing to adopt this third case as a predictive model indicator, and looks to integrate it into forecasts it is currently developing to estimate exposure levels under real conditions.
