Besides red tape, incessant complaints regarding so-called harmful electromagnetic frequency waves have also hindered telco companies from providing better services to customers.
“We had a case where a telco tower had to be brought down due to a single complaint from an apartment owner, over fears of electromagnetic radiation.
“This was despite approval given by technical agencies for the tower to be erected, after they had ruled out any radiation issues.
“Today, that same complainant has written a long letter asking the telco provider to explain why his cellular signal is weak in his apartment,” the telco expert said.
The expert was commenting on Perak’s announcement that it would dismantle 2,800 telco towers, after finding them to be illegally installed and also failing to pay the RM2,000 annual permits for them.
In Penang, there are 137 illegal telco towers and dozens have been removed for violating state laws on telco towers. Some were also removed for not paying permit fees as well.
For Penang, the yearly permit fees for telco towers depends on the installation area. An initial payment has to be made — RM10,000 for a tower and RM7,000 for the rooftop. Then, the permit is renewable at RM5,000 yearly.
Telcos have to also pay from RM2,800 to RM5,000 for placing their transmitters on a tower. The tallest slot is the most expensive. There are usually three to five transceivers on a tower.
The towers, usually 24m or 30m in height, have a typical life span of eight to 10 years. If well maintained, they can work for 25 years.
Rental for the site costs between RM1,500 and RM4,000 monthly, especially if placed on rooftops in urban areas.
Cut red tape for telco towers
Meanwhile, the telco industry insider said the ruling for the erection of telco towers should be relaxed, in the interest of ensuring clearer phone calls.
He said many telco operators want to comply with the rules set and provide efficient services to customers, but this has been made difficult by the local authorities and state representatives.
“A telco had wanted to instal antennae on an apartment building. The residents made so much noise that the installers had to seek the help of the National Nuclear Agency to measure the radiation levels to reassure the residents.
“When measured, the radiation was way lower than expected. In fact, the television set in the houses emitted more radiation than the antennae,” he said.
The source said with the recent “recalibration” exercise being done on the GSM 2G networks until June this year, the bringing down of towers would only make call delays and text messaging delays more frequent.
It was reported that the exercise was due to a “spectrum reallocation” by the telco industry regulators.
Higher towers equal better reception, call quality and data
He also said higher towers should be allowed by the authorities so that a wider area could be covered, reducing the need for boosters, repeaters and other antennae to be installed.
The expert said currently, short towers or antennae on buildings often “passed the signal” to another tower, which made calls drop or even hard to hear.
“The situation is dire . Some cellular companies are now forced to hand out mobile phone boosters to users’ homes for ‘blacked out’ (weak or no signal) places.
“With the demand for Internet on the go, more towers have to be erected to cope with the demand for cellular data.”
National telco regulator Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) had fined three major cellular companies RM190,000 for breaching their licence conditions, notably on complaints from the public concerning dropped calls in 2013.