Overcoming regulatory obstacles and reviewing the regulations on electromagnetic exposure, thus accelerating the development of 5G networks and the digital transition in our country: this is one of the aspects highlighted by the study entitled “5G and citizens’ perception of risks” created by the Institute for Competitiveness (I-Com) and Join Group as part of Futur#Lab, the project promoted by I-Com and WINDTRE, in collaboration with Join Group and with the partnership of Ericsson and INWIT.
The technological evolution of telecommunications, in fact, represents an extraordinary driving force of development for the digital transformation of the country system with 5G which, in this game, plays a fundamental role, ensuring increasingly advanced performance and greater connectivity on the territory. Yet Italy is still the only one of the large EU countries that has not raised the limits of exposure to electromagnetic fields, failing to adapt to international standards, in the wake of the other EU countries.
Fears about 5G
It should also be considered that citizens’ fears about 5G are now marginal: despite the widespread idea that the population fears electromagnetic pollution and aversion to the installation of fifth generation “antennas”, according to the analysis conducted by Bytek and I-Com on 5G-related fears in 5 countries (Italy, United States, France, Germany and Spain), web searches relating to 5G and related to a feeling of fear show a sharply decreasing trend: in fact, in Italy they go from 13% of the total in 2020 to 2.8% of the 2022, the year in which only 144.5 searches of this type were registered for every 100,000 inhabitants.
In the face of a large majority of the population who do not have particular concerns about 5G, the interest of companies appears to be growing. According to the international report “Reimagining Industry Futures Study”, published by EY as of February 2022, 17% of firms were already investing on 5G in their organization, while as many as 56% were planning an investment that will be made in a time frame ranging from 1 to 3 years. Only 12% believe 5G has no relevance to their industry and competitive position.
We must also take into account the fact that on a global level, fifth generation networks will have a positive effect on GDP of approximately USD 950 billion by 2030 and which, nationally, the forecast of stringent limits on electromagnetic emissions translate into extra costs of around 4 billion euros.
The 2023 survey
The survey was presented in Rome during the second round table of 2023. In this context – reads the note – “the Government’s initiative, still in the planning stage, to review the limits in force. In particular, the draft under discussion envisages an increase to a value of 24 V/m in the event of failure to reach an agreement within 120 days of the entry into force of the law. This would be an absolutely important regulatory change, where effectively implemented, through which the proliferation of plants would be curbed and therefore, on the one hand, the environmental impact resulting from the greater consumption of energy, soil and materials that the regulations in force would impose; on the other hand, it would favor the competitiveness of TLC companies no longer called upon to create countless new sites, of Italian companies in general which could more quickly access 5G connectivity and the services it enables and, ultimately, of the national system as a whole”. (Ticker)