A visitor walks past a 5G sign during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona February 28, 2017. — Reuters pic

KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 — The cellular radiation or the radio frequency technology in 5G network is safe and not harmful to one’s health, including children, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) chairman Al-Ishsal Ishak confirmed.

He said all the scare-stories and growing fear that 5G would cause all kinds of health problems including cancer, especially to children, were hogwash.

“Definitely 5G is safe and there is no impact on the human at any certain level including for children at home 5G has no ability to impact our molecules as it only generates heat,” said Al-Ishsal when interviewed in the Breakfast Grille programme aired over BFM Radio today.

He said the findings were based on a study by MCMC and was also confirmed by an expert on the spectrum, Prof Tharek Abd Rahman, who is also MCMC member.

“Not just the MCMC, the World Health Organisation (WHO) did a research over the past 30 years across approximately 25,000 research publications which clearly stated there is no impact on the exposure to low-level electromagnetic fields,” he said.

Commenting on MCMC’s connectivity plan for the future, he said the commission had listed seven objectives in the government’s National Fiberisation and Connectivity Plan (NFCP), including entry-level fixed broadband package at 1 per cent of GNI by 2020 and gigabits availability in selected industrial areas by 2020 and to all state capitals by 2023.

He said the other objectives were to achieve 100 per cent availability for premises in state capitals and selected high impact areas with a minimum speed of 500Mbps by 2021; 20 per cent availability for premises in suburban and rural areas with up to 500Mbps by 2022; and an average speed of 30Mbps in 98 per cent of populated areas by 2023.

“Other objectives are to have fibre network passes 70 per cent of schools, hospitals, libraries, police stations and post offices by 2022; and an improved mobile coverage along Pan Borneo highway upon completion. This is a big ambition, but we believe that we can do it,” he said.

He added, it had always been the government’s aspiration to reach out and ensure all society get the best connectivity including those living in rural areas.

“We got the segments of society that are still not having any single connection although internet access is basic utilities... for now, we have 870 internet centres’, especially in rural and poor areas which have benefited about 600,000 Malaysians.

“Fifty-seven per cent of them are students... the internet centres, on the record, have produced or facilitated a total of 16,898 small and medium-scale enterprises and helped to raise their salary,” he said. — Bernama