5G – Making phone calls was never the plan

It's touching how persistently we've been told for years that 5G is for faster internet. For buffer-free videos. For the Internet of Things. For smart refrigerators with inferiority complexes. And then suddenly there's this antenna, peering over rooftops, forests, and bedrooms, probably thinking: Making phone calls? How cute. Because let's be honest. You could make phone calls before 5G. Surprisingly well, in fact. Sometimes even with copper cables. Stone Age, I know. So why all the fuss?

The answer is banal and therefore so unpleasant: 5G is not a convenience technology. It is infrastructure. And infrastructure is power.

The antenna as a modern weapon
In the past, people placed cannons on hills. Today, they erect transmission towers. They look less intimidating, don't emit smoke, and don't require uniforms. But they share a crucial characteristic with traditional weapons: they control space. Because 5G can do more than just communicate. It can locate, track, map, prioritize, throttle, and analyze. And yes, it can also control moving objects: airplanes, cars, drones, autonomous systems. Not necessarily today, but certainly not never. Anyone who believes these networks are merely passive data conduits also believes surveillance cameras are just for decoration.

It's all a matter of control.
The truly charming thing about this debate isn't the technology. It's the naiveté surrounding the question of ownership. These antennas rarely belong to the land they stand on. They belong to corporations, holding companies, and international structures with shell companies, holding companies, and business reports that sound like IKEA furniture. Switzerland? It often has to tolerate the mast, supply the electricity, and hope for the best.

Who controls the systems?
Who will maintain them?
Who decides on updates, priorities, and emergency protocols?

These are not esoteric questions. These are strategic questions: military, economic, geopolitical. And they certainly won't be discussed at town hall meetings.

Dual Use, but without a warning label
This is called dual-use technology. Something that appears civilian but can be used militarily. GPS was also once only for navigation. Today, no war can be waged without GPS. 5G is perfect for this.

• extremely low latency
• high device density
• precise positioning
• Real-time control

This isn't a network. It's a neural system for machines, vehicles, and infrastructure. A nervous system can be calmed down. Or paralyzed. Or rerouted. Depending on who has access.

The great tranquilizer
Of course, attempts to downplay the issue are immediate. "No one would misuse something like that." "There are laws." "Technology is neutral." These statements are always the vanguard of the problem. Technology has never been neutral. It follows interests. And interests rarely respect national borders. No one claims that someone will use 5G to shut down Switzerland tomorrow. That would be crude. It's more elegant to create dependencies: systems that no longer function without a permanent connection, vehicles that can't drive without a network, logistics that collapse without real-time data.

Then weapons are no longer needed. An update will suffice. Or a failure. Or a prioritization that happens to affect something else.

Using the phone as an alibi
The tragicomic thing is that we're being sold all this under the label of "better internet." A few more megabits. A few milliseconds less. But in return, we get a nationwide, externally controlled high-performance network that knows every object, every movement, every cell tower.

5G does not make phone calls.
5G observes, connects, steers, synchronizes.

Making a phone call is the alibi. As with any good weapon, the packaging says something harmless.

Conclusion, without any consolation prize
There's no need to be afraid. Fear is inefficient. But we should stop pretending that 5G is just a technological evolution.

It is a strategic upgrade disguised as a service improvement.
And anyone who believes that weapons systems are only weapons if they are loud and explode has missed the turn of the last century.

The mast in front of your house isn't making phone calls.
Expected…