THE number of new telephone masts needed in Guernsey could be significantly reduced under a new sharing initiative. The Office of Utility Regulation will amend phone operators’ licences to help Environment’s aims to make companies cooperate more.

It denied that the move was a response to Sunday’s march in which hundreds of islanders protested against more masts.

But asked why this sharing drive had not been introduced earlier, OUR directorgeneral John Curran said:

‘It’s reflecting a situation that has developed in recent times.’

Mr Curran added that while he supported mast sharing, the Environment Department had the ultimate responsibility to impose it.

‘Environment is trying to encourage the mobile phone operators to share masts wherever possible and we think we can help that by amending the operators’ licences to strengthen the requirement for them to do just that,’ he said this morning.

‘We fully understand why islanders have concerns about more phone masts and we have always encouraged mast sharing.

‘We also know the Environment Department requires as part of the conditions of granting planning approval that operators must share masts if they require facilities in the same area.

‘By strengthening the licence obligations on all mobile operators to coordinate their plans better, we believe this will help further this aim.’

Airtel’s current licence requires its network to be in place by 15 September, but the operator has asked for a six-month extension following a significant change to the planning requirements for erecting masts.

The OUR has instead proposed an extra three months to allow the company time to work with Environment, other operators and local residents to get the best long-term solution for the island.

Mr Curran said he was disappointed that the Airtel network would not be in place on time, but meeting the needs of operators in a way that minimised disruption to the environment was the most important issue.

No More Masts protest group chairman Colin Fallaize said this morning that he was pleased the pressure brought to bear over the last few weeks had clearly directed the OUR to review its policy.

‘The community has a right to expect a greater level of transparency from the OUR and they should state clearly and publicly what the consequences are should Airtel fail to meet the revised deadline,’ he said.

‘It’s high time the States reviewed the sweeping powers entrusted to the director-general of the OUR as it has become increasingly clear that they are not meeting their directives in managing Guernsey utility infrastructure,

‘It’s now an appropriate time for our elected representatives to re-examine the desirability of a third operator and the intention to erect dozens more masts.’