**************************
Following is a question by the Hon Starry Lee and a written reply by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mrs Rita Lau, in the Legislative Council today (January 14):
Question:
It has been reported that the supporting frames for the transmitters of some of the mobile telephone base stations (base station), approved by the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) to be installed on rooftops of buildings and external walls of low-rise buildings, are unauthorised building works without the approval of the Buildings Department (BD), and they pose a threat to public safety. Moreover, the Office of The Ombudsman criticised in October 2005 that in vetting and approving applications by telecommunications operators for installing base stations, OFTA had unduly relied on the initiative of them to meet the requirements of other departments, and that the approval process contained loopholes. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it knows the current number of base stations in each District Council (DC) district and, among them, the number of those with transmitters installed on rooftops of buildings and external walls of low-rise buildings;
(b) of the respective numbers of applications for installing base stations received, approved and rejected by OFTA in each of the past three years (with a breakdown by DC district), and the reasons for rejecting some of the applications;
(c) of the number of complaints about the unauthorised erection of base station transmitters (with a breakdown by DC district) received by BD in each of the past three years and, among them, the number of those which had been substantiated, as well as the number of removal orders issued;
(d) whether it will review the existing procedure for vetting and approving applications for installing base stations, and whether it will consider assigning OFTA the duty to coordinate the vetting work with various departments; if not, of the reasons for that; and
(e) of the improvement measures taken by OFTA and BD in view of the recommendations made by the Office of The Ombudsman in the above-mentioned report?
Reply:
President,
To ensure that there is adequate capacity in their mobile telephone networks to provide an uninterrupted service to the public, mobile telephone operators need to install radio base stations on a territory-wide basis in accordance with their operational needs. The operators have to obtain approval from the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA), Planning Department (PlanD), Buildings Department (BD) and Lands Department (LandsD), in addition to the agreement from individual building owners or managers as the case may be, before they would be allowed to install radio base stations on roof-tops and/or mount the antennas on external walls of buildings. According to the current application procedures, the mobile operators should ensure that their proposed radio base stations would comply with the technical requirement of the OFTA in respect of radio interference and radiation hazard. In addition, the operators also need to comply with the requirement of the PlanD, BD and LandsD. To facilitate the operators to make their applications, the OFTA has issued a guidance note to provide information on the requirements and procedures of applying for such approval from the relevant Government departments.
My reply to the specific questions are as follows:
(a) Currently, there are over 21,500 radio base stations at various locations, out of which over 13,700 (i.e. about 64%) are outdoor stations installed at the roof-tops and external walls of buildings. The geographical distribution of these approved radio base stations is at Annex 1.
(b) In the past three years, the OFTA has received a total of 4,113 applications for installation of outdoor base stations. None of these applications were rejected due to non-compliance with OFTA's technical requirement in respect of radio interference and radiation hazard. The breakdown of application and approval in each geographical region in the past three years is at Annex 2.
(c) In the past three years, the BD received 68 complaints in relation to mobile base stations. The cases involved mobile base station supporting structures and poles, prefabricated cabinets for equipment and change-of-use of flats. The number of complaints broke down by District Council boundaries is at Annex 3.
Among these cases, the BD has served 11 removal orders under section 24(1) of the Buildings Ordinance (Cap. 123) against unauthorised building works that were accorded with immediate enforcement status in accordance with the department's enforcement policy.
(d) and (e) The OFTA has carefully considered the recommendations of the Office of The Ombudsman on the application procedures for installing radio base stations and has implemented an interim arrangement since November 2005. Under the arrangement, the OFTA provides the BD, PlanD and LandsD copies of applications received for installing base stations from the operators so as to ensure that the concerned departments are aware of the locations of the proposed base stations.
Upon receipt of the referral from the OFTA, the BD would remind the applicants that prior approval and consent under the Buildings Ordinance is required for any non-exempted building works associated with the applications. The BD will process applications from the operators in accordance with the established procedures for building plan approval. The LandsD, upon receipt of a referral from the OFTA on such applications, will also issue a letter reminding the applicant to fulfill the land lease conditions and guidelines.
In the longer term, the Government will implement a one-stop application procedure for the installation of base stations by the mobile network operators. Under the proposed one-stop procedure, OFTA will assume a coordinating role with concerned Government departments, and will be responsible for granting final approval for the installation. The OFTA is now working with the LandsD, BD and PlanD, as well as the mobile network operators, on the details of the one-stop procedure.
In addition, the BD is now planning to introduce a minor works control system which would enable building owners to follow simplified statutory procedures without the need for prior approval and consent from the Building Authority to conduct minor building works. The BD is examining, in consultation with the relevant stakeholders, the feasibility of specifying the building works for the installation of radio base stations of certain dimensions as minor works under the minor works control system so as to simplify the processing and approval procedure.
The Government will continue to monitor the installation of outdoor radio base stations and take necessary actions to facilitate the operators to roll out mobile network in Hong Kong while ensuring public safety.
Ends/Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Issued at HKT 15:19
NNNN
