Report: 5G conspiracy theories caused 170,000 hours of downtime in UK base stations

UK regulator Ofcom has revealed that so far in 2020, a total of 159 operator base stations have been attacked due to Covid-19-related and general anti-5G conspiracy theories, resulting in a total of 170,000 hours of base station downtime.

In its annual Connected Nation report, which assesses the state of the country's mobile and fixed networks, the agency revealed the scale of damage caused to mobile infrastructure in 2020 due to unfounded claims.

“Many unsubstantiated claims about Covid-19 have spread this year, often via social media,” the report states. “This follows false claims that electromagnetic field (EMF) emissions from 5G base stations pose a greater risk to people’s health.”

As the outbreak spread, there were reports in Britain and other countries of vandalism or arson attacks on infrastructure, apparently inspired by conspiracy theories linking 5G to Covid-19.

Elsewhere in the report, Ofcom said the UK's fixed and mobile networks remained resilient during the pandemic, and the deployment of fibre and 5G networks continued to accelerate despite the challenging environment.

By the end of 2020, there were about 3,000 mobile sites from four operators transmitting 5G signals, about 10 times the number at the end of 2019.