Cooperation initiatives to promote the harmonious and orderly deployment of mobile network infrastructure

The problems associated with the deployment of the mobile network in general, and the location and functioning of mobile telephone service antennas in particular, are causing growing concern among the different agents involved (sector, government, regulator, local administrations and the population).

This article summarizes the principal causes of this conflictive situation and the negative repercussions that it gives rise to, and then describes a proposed solution for the Latin American region, based on best practices at the global level.

The purpose is to raise the awareness of the different parties concerned (especially the different Latin American authorities) about the need to implement new dialogue and cooperation initiatives that will help improve the situation. Otherwise, it will become increasingly difficult to manage (as has occurred, for example, in Europe over recent years).

The following are among the most common causes of the existing problems:

• Public concern: this is the result of a series of events. The extremely accelerated growth of the market has led to a significant increase in the number of antennas needed to cover the demand for mobile services. Their visual impact and, above all, the failure to inform the public about the functioning and characteristics of the antenna emissions (totally innocuous according to the evidence of the thousands of scientific studies carried out to date) causes uncertainty and public concern.

• Conflicts derived from the dispersal of areas of responsibility, and lack of standardization and normative stability.  These aspects are reflected in:

• Conflicts in relation to areas of responsibility among central authorities (Government) and territorial Administrations with regard to emission limits, land use and classification, urbanism, disparity in the application of local rates, etc.)

• A multiplicity of regulations subject to constant changes and a proliferation of new municipal regulations (procedures and requirements for the concession of authorizations, height and distance limitations, supervision, control and monitoring mechanisms, new environmental impact studies, etc.)

• Dispersal of areas of responsibility between central planning, health, environmental, telecommunications, aeronautic and national security authorities, giving rise to heavy legislative and administrative bureaucracy.

This problem evidently has a direct and very significant impact on society and the development of the economy[1] of the countries of Latin America. The following are some of the consequences:

• The failure to inform the public gives rise to mistrust in technological progress, with the emergence of political “heroes” and interest groups that, supposedly, “protect and defend” society from an inexistent danger.

• Public concern constitutes a significant obstacle for the location of new sites and, at times, leads to a depreciation in property values that prejudices the public.

• There is a major increase in costs for the operators (excessive length of time for obtaining licenses and permits, dismantling, relocation). In the case of Germany, for example, these costs are estimated at 2,500 million dollars each year.[2]

• There is considerable legal uncertainty owing to the lack of a sole agency (interlocutor) with competence in the field which can be resorted to when disputes arise.

• The level of service quality is negatively affected and, what is more serious, the development of universal access projects and the Information Society is affected owing to the impossibility of increasing coverage.

• Finally, at the regional level, there are territorial imbalances, a decline in competitiveness and a technological lag compared to other regions of the world where the situation is clearly less conflictive (Asia).

Based on the aspects examined above, there is an evident need to coordinate mechanisms that allow these conflicts to be resolved mutually and reasonably.

One of the proposals that has gained most acceptance, owing to the success it is gradually obtaining in different countries (for example, Spain), consists in the elaboration of a Code of Best Practices for the deployment of the network and the commitment to comply with it by both the operators and the different authorities.

This Code has arisen specifically owing to the need to reach agreements that make it possible to mutually establish technical, environmental, urban planning and normative criteria that promote the orderly development of the mobile telephone services network. It includes, in the form of guidelines, the basic principles and standards that will facilitate, on the one hand, the settlement of existing disputes and, on the other hand, the non-appearance of new sources of conflict, focusing attention on topics such as the definition of a single installation procedure, the sharing of infrastructure, the integration of antennas in the milieu, emission control, communication channels made available to the public and information to the municipalities on the deployment plans of operators.

Nevertheless, the fact of sharing a code of best practices – to which all mobile operators (normally represented by a Sectoral Chamber), the municipalities and the Government should subscribe in order to obtain satisfactory results – is not, in itself, a guarantee of success.

To ensure that the principles contained in this document are really applied, it is essential that the Government should establish officially a Cooperation and Monitoring Committee in which all the agents are represented. This Committee should provide a framework for dialogue and understanding, in order to propose the range of possible options for resolving the different conflicts that continually occur to an executive body responsible for taking timely decisions.

The Cooperation and Monitoring Committee will use the Code of Best Practices as general guidelines to be followed, and its basic responsibilities will be in the following areas:

• Delimiting areas of responsibility

• Harmonizing national laws and regulations

• Institutional communications by the authorities and risk management in situations of public concern (according to WHO standards, for example)

Lastly, a Scientific Committee made up of well-known independent experts and/or institutions should advise this Committee on health matters, in keeping with the guidelines established by verifiable scientific evidence, to help the Committee define the content of the necessary public information plans.

Finally, the importance of acting as soon as possible to establish cooperation mechanisms such as those described should be underscored: experience shows that inaction over time, namely the lack of initiatives of this type of the delay in implementing them, ends up by causing more complex conflicts that have to be resolved.

David Gómez Campal
Manager of Regulatory Strategy
Telefónica Móviles Corporación España