Move to limit base towers slammed

The nation's biggest telephone company yesterday called on the government not to make a hasty decision to limit construction of cellular base stations, after lawmakers said yesterday that they would push a proposal to keep the towers out of residential areas.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Tsai Cheng-yuan (蔡正元) said regulations should be changed to to restrict mobile operators from building base stations in residential areas because of complaints about the equipment and health concerns.

In response, Chunghwa Telecom Co chairman Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) said: "As there is no substantial proof indicating that exposure to radio frequencies and microwave radiation will pose health risks to the people nearby, we think it will be too messy to restrict construction of base stations by revising the law."

Hochen warned that restricting telecom towers to non-residential districts could make it difficult for the government to implement some major telecom industry policies, including a plan to have digital radio broadcasts in full swing in 2008.

Tsai, however, said he and his colleagues were more concerned about the people's health, although they acknowledged the tenuousness of their claims.

"Although we do not have concrete proof that cellular towers are bad for our health, we still need to make some regulations to resolve people's complaints and fears," the lawmaker told a press conference yesterday morning.

"To build a cellular tower in the future, the cellular carrier should have to obtain the endorsement of at least half of the residents within a 20m radius," he said.

Tsai's proposal also stipulates that existing towers would have to be removed if more than half of the residents within a 20m radius ask for its removal.

Restrictions on base towers would have a major impact on users of mobile phones, Hochen said, since the measure would disrupt wireless connections.

He said 70 percent of Chunghwa Telecom's 8,700 base stations are in residential areas.

Tsai said the proposed law would resolve one major complaint from the public -- that they have no advance warning about the construction of new base towers.

The KMT legislator said that as of yesterday the proposal had been endorsed by 74 lawmakers from across party lines.

Tsai's proposal has already been submitted to the legislative floor for review, since just 40 lawmakers are needed to endorse an issue to make it an official proposal.

Chunghwa Telecom said each of its base stations have cost between NT$3 million (US$89,596) and NT$4 million.

About 400 of the 20,000 base stations owned by the nation's major wireless telecom-service providers have been dismantled over the past 10 months, the company said.

The five major telecom companies, including Far EasTone Telecommunications Co and Taiwan Mobile Co, formed a special taskforce a month ago to resolve disputes over the construction of base stations.