Aerials

Mrs. Moon
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what estimate has been made of the additional number of mobile phone masts required to meet future demand of further generations of mobile telecommunications equipment.

Mr. Iain Wright
I have been asked to reply.

The Government encourage mast and site sharing wherever possible, and network operators have an obligation under current planning procedures to demonstrate that they have considered all mast and site sharing options. Future sharing of network infrastructure would reduce the rate of growth of base station sites.

There is no current estimate of the number of additional mobile phone masts required to meet future demand of further generations of mobile telecommunications equipment. This is due to the fast moving nature of the telecommunications industry.

The actual number of base stations required in the future will depend on growth of demand and the availability of spectrum as well as the choice of technology available to meet that demand.