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* Gove on 5G conspiracy: "This is nonsense"
* NHS says 5G conspiracy is fake news and utter rubbish
* Masts attacked in British regions
* Mobile lobby says aware of threats to staff and
infrastructure
(Adds BT, Vodafone comments)
By Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton
LONDON, April 4 (Reuters) - A conspiracy theory that links
5G mobile telecommunications masts to the spread of the novel
coronavirus is dangerous fake news and completely false, Britain
said on Saturday after masts in several parts of the country
were torched.
When asked by a reporter about the so called "theory" that
5G telecommunications masts could play a role in the spread of
the disease, British Cabinet Officer Minister Michael Gove said:
"That is just nonsense, dangerous nonsense as well."
Mobile phone masts have in recent days been vandalised and
telecoms staff abused in Birmingham in central England and
Merseyside in northern England, damaging connectivity at a time
when people are relying on it more than ever.
An arson attack at a tower in Birmingham owned by BT,
Britain's biggest telecoms company, caused significant damage.
It provided 2G, 3G and 4G services to thousands of people, but
did not have 5G capability, the company said.
NHS England's national medical director, Stephen Powis, said
the 5G conspiracy idea was fake news with no scientific backing
that risked damaging the emergency response to the outbreak.
"The 5G story is complete and utter rubbish, it's nonsense,
it's the worst kind of fake news," Powis said. "The reality is
that the mobile phone networks are absolutely critical to all of
us."
"Those are also the phone networks that are used by our
emergency services and our health workers and I'm absolutely
outraged, absolutely disgusted that people would be taking
action against the very infrastructure that we need to respond
to this health emergency," Powis said.
A lobby group for the United Kingdom's mobile operators -
including EE, O2, Vodafone and Three - said it was aware of the
false rumours linking 5G to the outbreak, and that telecoms
staff had been threatened.
Vodafone, the world's second largest mobile operator, said
the attacks were now a matter of national security.
"It beggars belief that some people should want to harm the
very networks that are providing essential connectivity to the
emergency services, the NHS, and rest of the country during this
difficult lockdown period," UK boss Nick Jeffery said.
He described his engineers as heroes and urged people not to
spread the "utterly baseless" stories online.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton, Editing by
Christina Fincher)
