A moratorium may be lifted on introducing 5G wireless technology to Bermuda, the Regulatory Authority announced last night.

In a preliminary report, the telecommunications watchdog said it was proposing to lift the temporary moratorium imposed on fifth generation technology last year.

The moratorium was put in place to allow time for consultation after community groups raised concerns about the safety of the radio frequency consultation.

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RA Report on 5G.pdf

But the RA also proposes to set up programmes for consultation as well as independent checks on the health impact of the technology.

The public was asked to review the 42-page report and provide feedback, which followed the launch of public consultation last October.

Sceptics of the technology included the group Bermuda Advocates for Safe Technology.

Members of BAST included Eugene Dean, the chairman of the environmental group Greenrock.

The RA also took advice from an independent advisory panel, which reviewed feedback from the public to compile a final report – which has now been approved for publication by the RA’s board of commissioners.

The advisory panel was made up of chairman Glenn Blakeney, Dr Carika Weldon and three international scientists – Dr. Rodney Croft of Australia, Dr. Jeffrey Herd of the US and Dr Raafat Mansour of Canada. Dr Weldon left the panel in December and was not an author of the final report.

Feedback on the report, available on the website www.ra.bm, was requested ahead of midnight on March 8.

The RA said it will then make its final decision on March 18.

The advisory panel’s report addressed concerns raised by BAST over the technology.

It found radiation safety science “does not support the view that 5G will be harmful to people” or to the island’s flora and fauna.

Opponents charged the 5G technology would not substantially benefit the island, and that non-wireless technology would work better.

But the panel wrote that it could not evaluate the claims.

Nor would it comment on “privacy and security vulnerabilities”.

The report found that “exposure of the community to radiation from 5G antennas is predicted to be considerably lower than the levels recommended as safe” under international guidelines.

It recommended the RA “lift the moratorium on 5G roll-out” but advised the RA to build “strong channels of communication” to address public concerns.

The report added: “The science underpinning the relationship between 5G and health is particularly complex, requiring detailed knowledge of a range of different scientific disciplines, including exposure assessment, biological, medical and public health science.”

It said the community faced difficulty evaluating 5G “without relying heavily on opinion-based information”.

The panel also recommended tracking 5G exposure levels in the field – and for the RA to “consider initiating a periodic independent assessment to review and identify any new developments in the scientific consensus”.

⋅ To read the full report, click on the PDF under “Related Media”.