TELECOMMUNICATIONS Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) is reassured by the attention being given to the issue of cellular tower construction in Trinidad and Tobago, the company has said.

This signal is a most welcomed change from the apparent hiatus Town and Country Planning Division (T&CPD) seems to have been on for the past two to three years while TSTT lodged application after application with them but got no response, because a policy was still being developed, a TSTT release added.

According to TSTT’s Chief Operations Officer, Bernard Mitchell, “the company found itself in a very difficult position.

“All stakeholders, particularly customers, were rightly demanding a world-class mobile service that supported national development objectives and at the same time the cell tower planning policy was being developed and applications were not being processed.”

He added further: “That given the disadvantageous spectrum allocation granted to TSTT, the company needed to have more cellular towers in order to achieve effective nationwide coverage.”

TSTT therefore proceeded with the building of its network while still submitting applications for approval.

This decision benefited tens of thousands of citizens who used mobile communications to improve the responsiveness of emergency and protective services to their calls for help, improve their business administration and efficiency and better communicate among their family and social circles.

A company statement assured that TSTT remains committed to working with Town & Country to ensure that the public health and safety is kept at the forefront in the development of a policy for the erecting of cell towers.

“Indeed, even in the absence of the policy, TSTT self-regulated the operating parameters for its cell towers and has successfully ensured that its radio frequency emission are as much as 1000 times lower than the recommended level of emissions of the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), an international organisation that has established all levels for radio emissions for public safety, stricter than those of all regulatory bodies.

The Town & Country cell tower policy eventually came into effect in May 2006, after many, many different drafts and amendments. The policy is a satisfactory guideline with remedies for both the state and service providers.

“As such, TSTT will continue to work with the Town & Country Planning Division to ensure to the best of its ability that cellular towers comply with the new policy,” the company said.

“TSTT remains hopeful that the considerable resources of the government including the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago will also be brought to bear on the issue of tower co-location which would address some of the concerns enunciated in the policy.

“While TSTT and Laqtel have successfully completed bilateral agreements on this, since October 2005, TSTT has been pursuing co-location with Digicel and has to date not been able to conclude arrangements.

“TSTT will continue to work in the best interest of the coutnry and the company remains committed to open collaboration with the relevant authorities and community stakeholders to ensure that its operations give more people the opportunity for a better quality of life,” the company said.