Research into Phone Mast Sharing in the UK

The UK Government department, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is to commission research to identify the future direction of mobile phone technology and the future needs for mast developments. The research will also look at the potential for increased sharing of masts. The research will consider the effectiveness of the Sitefinder database and options for its future development. The Government is currently reviewing planning arrangements for mobile phone masts.

Planning Minister Yvette Cooper said "It is important to identify the future direction of mobile phone technology in order to inform policy development and to respond to public interest in this area."

The Mobile Operators Association, a trade body said that it looks forward to working with the Government and other stakeholders on the research.

The MOA said that it would expect that the forthcoming research should reflect the Government's recently published Digital Strategy - published only three days before - which acknowledged that the UK is "already a leader on mobile and wireless technologies" and expressed the desire that the UK should be "a world leader in allowing people to use or reach any content, with any device, anywhere, any time".

The issue of sharing of masts was highlighted in the announcement and is one which the operators are consistently addressing. Operators share both sites and masts where possible. It is cheaper to share rather than build a new mast each time. However, it is not always technically possible as each network is planned slightly differently. A shared site can also be more visually intrusive than a single operator site because of the increase in height needed to accommodate two or more antenna systems."

Posted to the site on 6th April 2005