Ofcom removes list of 5G site addresses amid industry concerns it could fuel arson attacks The list of 5G sites contained their exact addresses and mapped test locations

Ofcom has taken down a list of 5G sites where it has tested electromagnetic field (EMF) levels from its website amid industry concerns it could aid the wave of anti-5G attacks on phone masts.

The list, added to Ofcom’s website on Friday, displayed the exact addresses of 22 sites the regulator has collected EMF readings from during 2020, including Bristol and Liverpool, Cardiff, Stevenage and Glasgow.

A report on each site also displayed a map of locations close to the station where Ofcom measured each reading, the strength of the levels and the date the reading was taking.

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List of addresses was ‘vandal’s dream’

An industry source described the list as “a vandal’s dream”, helping arsonists and anti-5G protesters pinpoint exactly where to find masts they may not have been previously aware of.

While many mobile masts are highly visible, measuring up to 70ft tall, many recent protesters have been attacking masts that only support 2G, 3G and 4G network infrastructure in the mistaken belief they were carrying 5G equipment.

Another network worker said they “wouldn’t have thought it was necessary for the report to go to that level of detail”, adding: “It certainly doesn’t feel like it was particularly well thought through, given the current situation with arson attacks supposedly targeting 5G sites.”

“While the mobile networks agreed to have the individual test reports published, we have temporarily removed these from our website as we seek to understand concerns some mobile companies have now raised,” an Ofcom spokesperson told i.

“A summary of the results, showing that all of the 5G sites we tested at were operating well within international guidelines, is still available from our website.”

Ofcom takes EMF readings near mobile base stations to assess the levels are safe for the public in the stations’ vicinity as part of its role as the communications regulator.

In February it published a report verifying that EMF levels from all 22 sites were at small fractions of the levels identified as safe by the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), the independent non-profit that publishes guidelines around the amounts of radiation – including radiofrequency energy from smartphones – humans can be safely exposed to.

False claims fuel anti-5G sentiment

Fake claims wrongly linking the roll-out of 5G to the coronavirus outbreak circulating online has triggered a violent wave of attacks on phone masts across the UK in the past month.

More than 40 sites have been targeted in the past two weeks, forcing phone networks to invest in greater physical security to secure their sites and giving their engineers letters and signs to explain why they’re working during lockdown.

Campaigners targeted 22 phone masts belonging to EE alone over the long Easter weekend, mainly in Liverpool and Birmingham, with protestors also exhibiting “threatening behaviour” at several sites in London and the south east.



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