Written question asked by Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative) on Wednesday, 11 June 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 24 June 2003. It was answered by Stephen Timms (Labour) on Tuesday, 24 June 2003 on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Dept of Trade and Industry

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, how many new masts she estimates will be required to fulfil the telecommunications obligation under the 3G licences by 2007; and how many of them she estimates will be shared. - Includes fact that not possible to give a reliable estimate.

Answer: Mr Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many new masts she estimates will be required to fulfil the telecommunications obligation under the 3G licences by 2007; and how many of them she estimates will be shared. [119602] Mr. Timms: It is not possible to give a reliable estimate of the number of new masts that will be needed to fulfil the obligations of the 3G licensees, nor the number that will be shared. The total number of masts will be affected by the level of demand for 3G services, by commercial decisions related to the design of the networks and by the requirements of planning authorities. The four operators with existing GSM networks will also be able to reduce the number of sites required by co-locating the 3G and GSM antennae. Two of the operators, T-Mobile and MMO2 have entered into an agreement to share parts of their networks and this will significantly reduce the numbers of masts required. All operators are required to consider the sharing of masts and this has a significant effect in reducing the total number required.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 119602; 407 c684W;407 c686W
Session: 2002-03
Subjects: Aerials Cooperation Planning permission Mobile phones Location Telecommunications O2 T-Mobile
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk