Mobile networks reaffirm mast best practice commitments in Northern Ireland

11 April 2002

Northern Ireland's five mobile phone operators today reaffirmed their commitment to best practice standards to address public concerns about mobile phone masts, in co-operation with the Northern Ireland Executive's new policy on masts published today.

Commenting on the announcement, Mike Dolan, spokesman for the Federation of the Electronics Industry (FEI) which represents Northern Ireland's mobile phone operators, said:

"It is disappointing that the Executive appears to have ignored its own policy that Northern Ireland must have a cutting edge telecommunications infrastructure to compete effectively in the global economy. By imposing full planning procedures on all telecommunications development the relative attractiveness of Northern Ireland as a location for inward investment could be reduced and future job creation jeopardised.

"Business in Northern Ireland could be seriously disadvantaged if it cannot access continuously improved mobile services. The mobile phone operators are committed to improving existing services and delivering 3G services to meet demand in Northern Ireland but are concerned that delivery of these services could be delayed by the new planning regime."

Mr Dolan added:

"The operators have developed ten commitments to best practice which will enable public concerns over radio base station siting to be addressed directly."

Key elements of the operators' ten commitments are improved transparency, more publicly available information, and improved communication and consultation with local authorities and the public.

"Mobile services are hugely popular, and bring immense benefits to the one million Northern Irish people who use them. To work effectively, they need sufficient infrastructure in the right places," said Mr Dolan.

"We need to find the right balance between environmental responsibility and ensuring that the people of Northern Ireland have access to mobile services."

Note to editors

The mobile phone operators have pledged to:

• develop, with other stakeholders, clear standards and procedures to deliver significantly improved consultation with local communities
• participate in obligatory pre-rollout and pre-application consultation with local planning authorities
• publish clear, transparent and accountable criteria and cross-industry agreement on site sharing, against which progress will be published regularly
• establish professional development workshops on technological developments within telecommunications for local authority officers and elected members
• deliver, with the UK Government, a database of information available to the public on radio base stations
• assess all radio base stations for international (ICNIRP) compliance for public exposure, and produce a programme for ICNIRP compliance for all radio base stations as recommended by the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones
• provide, as part of planning applications for radio base stations, a certification of compliance with ICNIRP public exposure guidelines
• provide specific staff resources to respond to complaints and enquiries about radio base stations, within ten working days
• begin financially supporting the UK Government's independent scientific research programme on mobile communications health issues
• develop standard supporting documentation for all planning submissions whether full planning or prior approval

FEI represents the five mobile phone operators operating within the UK
(BT Cellnet, Hutchison 3G, One2One, Orange, and Vodafone).

For more information, please contact:
Christine Jude (020 7331 2029, 07714 241924)
Jonathan Rose, PR Manager Orange, Northern Ireland 07970 777727
Philip Robinson, Regional Community Affairs Manager, Hutchison 3G 07711 844554