Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades on Wednesday slammed the spreading of fake news about COVID-19 conspiracy theories after a telecoms tower was vandalised.
He said fears of a 5G network being secretly installed were unfounded and referred to the arson attack in Limassol in a statement.
“The culmination (of such news) was the criminal act against a Cyprus Telecommunications Authority antenna, resulting in the interruption of mobile telephony services, endangering the lives and the health of vulnerable groups,” said the president.
Conspiracy theories falsely claim the deployment of 5G networks has caused or helped accelerate the spread of COVID-19.
“No licence for the installation of 5G has been granted to any company”, said Anastasiades in Wednesday’s statement.
Anastasiades accused some circles of “spreading fake news” about 5G but didn’t directly mention the coronavirus pandemic.
He said the decision to install the 5G network would be based solely on scientific views, European directives and the recommendations of the World Health Organisation.
Cyprus police said on Wednesday they had asked 18 people in for questioning in connection with inciting vandalism against telecoms masts.
Police they were suspected of uploading posts on social media which could be interpreted as inciting people to carry out malicious acts against 5G masts allegedly being set up in secret
The Deputy Ministry for Research, Innovation and Digital Policy also condemned the arson attack in a statement.
“This act is, firstly, vandalism against private property – which has nothing to do with 5G networks – and, secondly, it is an attack on the precious commodity of communication in the midst of a pandemic”.
The junior ministry said that according to the WHO, viruses cannot travel via radio waves and mobile networks, while scientific research shows there is no correlation between the use of wireless technology and negative effects on public health.
The department of electronic communications told local news site Financial Mirror, that so far, as the competent authority, it has not granted any licences for the commercial operation of 5G networks in Cyprus.
George Komodromos, head of the department, said the government will ensure “the programme will be carried out in compliance with EU directives, and on the basis of recommendations by the WHO, but remains committed to licensing 5G networks”
Komodromos added that the licensing process was on track until the coronavirus pandemic hit Cyprus and the rest of the EU, putting a freeze on plans for now.
He said the first bandwidth, that of 700MHz, was to be given to the highest bidder by 30 June 2020 the 3.6GHz bandwidth until 31 December 2020.
“However, the pandemic and the lockdown will probably push plans back a little further.”
According to EU directives, Cyprus is obligated to issue 5G broadband licenses by the end of 2020.
