Swiss Parliament: Digitization: 3 Groundbreaking Decisions in the National Council

Media release: "Three groundbreaking decisions in the National Council".

Sustainability doesn't matter, the main thing is cheap and fast
Schutz vor Strahlung - translation

Zurich, June 18, 2021 On June 17, 2021, the National Council made three groundbreaking decisions regarding digitization. In doing so, it placed little emphasis on sustainable development.

Postulate "Federal high-bandwidth strategy" 21.3461

In the course of yesterday morning (17 June 2021), the National Council adopted the postulate "High-bandwidth strategy of the Confederation" without discussion and without any dissenting votes. In some regions of Switzerland, the Internet connection is slow and expansion is not profitable for data network operators. The Federal Council is now to submit a strategy to Parliament to ensure efficient coverage in line with demand in all parts of the country. It can be assumed that this strategy will also specify the data transmission method.

The association, "Protection from radiation states": Already today, many thousands of kilometers of fiber optic cables run from network operators to distribution points. An apartment or a mobile communications system, for example, can be connected to these. Mobile waves transmitters only bridge the last few meters to the user with radio waves. In order to penetrate walls, the antenna radiates many times more strongly than if it supplied an outdoor area at the same distance. It therefore makes sense to also connect all homes and offices to the fiber optic network. In this way, radiation-intensive mobile communications transmissions can be avoided and the mobile communications network can be eased.

Postulate "Digitization and 5G in line with climate targets" 19.4497

Yesterday (17 June 2021), the National Council also decided on the postulate by National Councillor Munz, which called for a decision-making basis for a sustainable digital and 5G infrastructure. It demanded a report from the Federal Council on the impact of the digital agenda on climate targets, including 5G. "Protection from Radiation" is convinced that this issue must be given great weight if Switzerland is to remain competitive in the long term. However, the motion was successfully opposed by National Councilor Wasserfallen. Among other things, he argued that this postulate was superfluous and referred to the Digital Switzerland strategy and the better energy efficiency of 5G compared to 4G. But the Digital Switzerland strategy does not yet contain any in-depth clarifications on the impact of data infrastructure and transmission type on achieving the climate targets. Even Swisscom points out the climate impact of streaming in its latest advertising campaign. It advises using cable or Wi-Fi instead of mobile communications whenever possible. And the research project "Green Cloud Computing" 2020, UBA, also states that 5G requires ten times more energy than fiber optics. So it is a must to develop a strategy for our Swiss data infrastructure so that most data connections happen via cable or only inside the home via WiFi.

Motion "Create framework conditions for rapid rollout" 20.3237

The motion of the FDP parliamentary group/Wasserfallen, which was adopted yesterday (17 June 2021) and opposed by parts of the population and organizations critical of mobile communications, demands decisions from the Federal Council to enable the introduction of the 5th generation of mobile communications and outlines goals. Both the motion itself and the statement made by the author of the motion contain numerous contradictions. For example, the motion calls for the introduction of 5G, although 5G had long been introduced at the time the motion was submitted. Swisscom advertised a 90% coverage of Switzerland. The motion further demands its implementation within 5 years, respectively by 2024.

National Councillor Wasserfallen expects a relaxation of the limit values if the motion is accepted and emphasizes that radiation exposure of 50 V/m is also unthinkable. National Councilor Schlatter countered that the latest findings point to harmful effects due to oxidative stress. Members of the federal expert group (BERENIS) actually expect health effects and already in the range of today's limits. With a relaxation, therefore, damage to the population would be consciously accepted!

The Federal Council's position is also contradictory: it recommended accepting the motion, but still explicitly wants to maintain the current limit values. In the debate, Federal Councillor Simonetta Sommaruga emphasized that there were no plans to relax the limit values and went on to state that it was now necessary to create confidence among the population and the authorities. It remains unclear how the Federal Council intends to comply with this motion. Now the Council of States will decide on the motion next.

After the Council scuttled the Munz postulate - and without waiting for the "Sustainable Mobile Network" report currently in progress (Häberli postulate, 2019) - parliamentarians voted 97 to 75, with 18 abstentions, to approve a hasty and cheap rollout of 5G, rather than a sustainable infrastructure.

There are good solutions for sustainable data infrastructure development

The associationn"Protection from Radiation" calls for sustainable digitization. Sustainable in the sense of economical use of energy, but also sustainable in the sense of good precautionary measures to prevent later compensation for avoidable damage caused by radiation.

For the type of data transmission, this means that the most efficient and lowest-radiation data transmission occurs when the data is transported as far as possible via fiber optic cable to the end device, as recent studies from Germany show. Only the last few meters, if at all necessary, should be bridged with copper cable or wireless connections. Because when radiation penetrates walls and ceilings, as well as vehicle shells, a lot of energy is wasted, especially at the high 5G frequencies. Today's mobile communications infrastructure, which also supplies indoor areas with large transmitters, is a phaseout system.

By the way: Every powerful 5G antenna requires a fiber-optic connection. It therefore makes more sense to lay the fiber optic cable directly into the homes than to bridge the last few meters with energy-intensive wireless connections. The association "Protection from Radiation" supports the expansion of fiber optics into the homes or offices, as well as a consistent separation of the outdoor and indoor supply.

Cheap solutions often end up being expensive. Now it is up to the Council of States to correct this unsustainable path and decisively reject the Wasserfallen motion.

Media contact Association Protection from Radiation
Rebekka Meier, President and Head of the Building Law Department
rebekka.meier@schutz-vor-strahlung.ch
032 652 61 61

Original text in German:
https://schutz-vor-strahlung.ch/news/medienmitteilung-drei-wegweisende-entscheide-im-nationalrat/