Government to rent space for antennas

dahamsta

Government to rent space for antennas
Tuesday, July 08 2003
by Matthew Clark

The Office of Public Works says it is seeking the services of a consultant who can help it rent out space on government buildings for telecoms masts and antennas.

In ads placed in the national press on Monday, the OPW said it was seeking proposals from telecoms consultants by 21 July, in the hope that such an adviser will be able to help the government transform its network of properties into cash-generating base stations for wireless technologies. The OPW's ad said that it was interested in a consultant who could advise on a wide array of technologies, including GSM, UMTS, Tetra, SDH and Wireless LAN.

According to the OPW, the organisation that wins the contract will negotiate on behalf of the OPW, will provide details on the revenue capabilities of various sites and will be knowledgeable in planning requirements.

With about 1,800 properties throughout the State managed by the OPW, including government departments, schools and heritage sites, the deal opens up a surfeit of prime locations for companies wishing to install mobile phone masts and fixed-wireless broadband antennas. It is thought that the move might be especially attractive to the likes of 3G mobile operator Hutchison and Irish Broadband, both of which are putting new networks in place.

When building its network, Meteor, Ireland's third mobile operator, often complained about the difficulty it experienced when attempting to establish new sites, and the firm regularly called for mobile mast-sharing arrangements. Ireland's two dominant mobile operators, O2 and Vodafone, eventually agreed to the idea of mast sharing when they began to build their 3G mobile networks late last year.

The revenue that the OPW will be able to draw from its portfolio under the scheme is unknown, although multimillion euro figures have already been bantered about. Still, some experts have noted that since the government is only now looking to wireless service providers with a unified approach, it may have missed the opportunity to cash in during peak build-out times in the 1990s and in the first year of the current decade. Mobile firms have already put in place over 4,000 sites, and it is not thought that the need for new sites is high.

Mobile phone masts have been a touchy issue for some over the last few years and have often been the target of protests and even vandalism or sabotage by individuals and community groups who say that the radiation they emit, although monitored by ComReg, is dangerous. In fact, the positioning of mobile phone and fixed-wireless base stations -- both of which emit non-iodising radiation -- on sites such as schools and libraries is sure to cause trouble, despite the fact that most experts agree the devices involved pose little or no health risk.

In January, for example, residents of Clontibret, County Monaghan, staged a series of public meetings to express their opposition to the erection of a mobile phone mast in the area. Those protests came just after a T-Mobile phone mast in County Tyrone was cut down by protesters, an attack that came just one month after a 150-foot mast used by five operators in the Cranlome area of Dungannon, and owned by Northern Ireland Electricity, was attacked and cut down.

In related news, the Irish Times reported on Tuesday that the OPW is reviewing a deal struck between mobile phone company O2 and the Gardai in 1998. That deal gave O2 exclusive access to 184 Garda masts throughout the State, helping it to build its national network. The paper says that some elements of the pact, including the amount that O2 pays for access to each site, are under arbitration.

Eurorunner

Mobile phone masts have been a touchy issue for some over the last few years and have often been the target of protests and even vandalism or sabotage by individuals and community groups

Well, if it comes between wireless being made available in my area and a group of ignorant protesters, i'll be there to protest about the damn protesters:mad:

Mr_Man

Why doesn't the government rent out some of the TD's to hold the antenae in place - at least then they would be making a positive contribution to the development of the Irish infrastructure. Perhaps our e-minister could lead the way......

M.