The French secretary of state for digital affairs, Cedric O, announced that national spectrum agency ANFR will implement 4,500 measurements in the vicinity of 5G cell sites during 2021, to assess radio frequency (RF) exposure and compare the results with data collected before the deployment of 5G networks. As part of this monitoring plan, 300 measurements will be carried out before the end of 2020, as the country’s four network operators start deploying their 5G services commercially.
Last month, the spectrum agency published a study simulating RF exposure from LTE and 5G mobile antennas area, saying that it planned to replicate this type of research and refine its simulation model by taking into account the deployment strategies of mobile operators.
The government said that ANFR’s monitoring activities resulted in 3,066 checks in 2019, monitoring the power of antennas across all existing cell sites. The overall number of checks will increase to 6,500 by the end of 2020 and 10,000 next year.
The spectrum agency will also intensify its action to verify that device makers are respecting the SAR (specific absorption rate) limits set by EU regulation. In particular, the government said that the number of checks on smartphones will double to 140 in 2021, compared to 70 models inspected in 2019. This year, over 80 percent of the best selling handsets in France will undergo tests using SAR measurement systems, such as those developed by French start-up Art-Fi.
