5G technology only in the ‘light version’

Some mobile phone antennas in the canton of Zug have now been equipped with 5G technology. One of the big differences between 4G and 5G is the speed of the data transmission. As can be read on the website of the Federal Office of Communications, the new technology is said to be up to 100 times faster. In Zug, however – as in other cantons – these speeds are still a long way off.

Construction Director Florian Weber explains: "At present, the canton can only speak of a light version of the 5G network." The reason for this is that, when converting existing static antennas, the mobile operators may only transmit on the frequencies previously used, unless they obtain new permits. “In spite of the new encoding, the antennas only radiate to the same amount as before," summarises Weber.

In short, this means that the antennas have undergone a software update, but the potential of the new technology cannot yet be fully exploited. "A slightly higher throughput rate" is nevertheless noticeable, according to the Zug Construction Director. In order for the superfast Internet to become available, making it possible to download films in a matter of seconds, higher frequencies and adaptive antennas that align to the end user would be required.

The new frequencies were assigned around a year ago, and the auction of the frequencies by the federal government brought in CHF 380 million. The Bafu has not yet presented the guidelines, however, or there are as yet no measurement recommendations for the 5G antennas. The Federal Office for the Environment (Bafu) therefore pointed out in April last year that adaptive antennas can be treated like conventional antennas. Measurement recommendations for 5G antennas have been available from the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology (Metas) since the beginning of the week, and Bafu will now follow suit. The Canton of Zug said: "Our people are following the publication and/or the measurement methods."

As has already been reported several times, adaptive antennas can only be approved in Zug if the electrical field strength is only used to less than 80 percent. "Two applications for such antennas were submitted by Sunrise," reports the Construction Director, and they would be located in Hünenberg and the City of Zug (on the Zugerberg). He emphasizes that the approval of the applications is within the competence of the municipality, however. "The canton only has an advisory function." This function is taken seriously, which is why he has given the corresponding recommendation of 80 percent utilisation.

The fact that the expansion of the 5G network cannot be pushed ahead in certain cantons due to a lack of federal guidelines is seen as a shock, as was reported in the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”. What is the situation in the canton of Zug?

"Above all, there is a certain amount of discontent from the population," said Weber. "But it is important that everything should be clarified," he adds diplomatically, but admits that it is a tedious process for everyone, not least the operators. They are all waiting and hoping that the federal recommendations provide clarity.

The mobile operators also have no choice but to wait for the federal recommendations, but still want to push ahead with the expansion of the network. But why is the expansion of the 5G network being pushed ahead if the quality is not yet the best possible? Armin Schadeneli from the Swisscom media office explains that “5G wide” uses the same frequencies as 4G+, “but is a little faster than 4G+ thanks to the efficiency of 5G technology”. This brings more capacity and a faster response time. "And we can, of course, thereby offer 5G technology quickly all over Switzerland." “5G wide” is at the beginning of a development phase: "Over the next few months and years, this technology will be developed further and, step by step, will become noticeably better than 4G +," says Schadeli.

Swisscom is expanding the 5G network further, and is also planning additional locations in the Canton of Zug. For reasons of competition, however, it does not yet want to reveal where exactly.

Unlike Swisscom, Sunrise is focussing on the faster 5G network, with speeds of up to 2 gigabits per second. "The extent to which Sunrise will offer 5G by upgrading existing systems in lower frequency ranges will be announced in due course," writes Rolf Ziebold from the operator's media office. Namely, when the availability of the corresponding devices becomes more concrete. The Salt media office is cautious, and did not provide any information on the 5G implementation plan or the location of the antennas.

What will happen next in the canton of Zug?
With regard to the 5G expansion in Zug and the cantonal recommendations, Swisscom and Sunrise say that it is fundamentally the case that any unequal treatment of 5G systems would result in delays. “We expect 5G applications to be dealt with quickly. Further delays and stricter requirements can be avoided”, says Ziebold from Sunrise. The provider Salt takes the same view: "As far as the Canton of Zug is concerned, Salt is of the opinion that the canton's tightening of the existing limit value for adaptive antennas is no longer justified, due to the now available 5G measurement recommendation from Metas."