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Vodafone Demonstrates 5G Sensing as ETSI Flags ISAC Risks

ETSI urges security-by-design safeguards for ISAC during standardization.

Overview

  • Vodafone and Tiami reported at MWC Barcelona that trials on existing 5G antennas reliably detected objects and people without disrupting calls or data.
  • Vodafone says trial findings are being contributed to 3GPP Release 19, with joint testing set to continue through 2026.
  • ETSI’s new report identifies 19 critical issues, with privacy and security dominant, including unauthorized sensing, building mapping, person tracking, eavesdropping and active signal manipulation.
  • The report also highlights energy, health and ecological impacts and calls for consent and transparency mechanisms, cryptographic and integrity protections, immutable logging and strict access controls.
  • ISAC uses radio reflections to sense distances, speeds and human movement in real time, with broader commercial deployment expected alongside 6G around 2030.