Residents opposed to Vodacom’s proposed tower

Vodacom is set to install a cellular phone tower at the Bushwillow Park Estate.

The executive head of corporate communications, Mr Richard Boorman, said the building plans were submitted to the City of Johannesburg Department of Planning and Urban Management on July 19, 2013 and they were approved on November 25, 2014.

Mr Boorman said a public participation process did take place and registered letters were also sent to adjacent landowners in July 2013.

“The Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development confirmed on June 7, 2013, that as the mast is being installed within an urban area and outside areas of conservation importance, no Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was required,” said Mr Boorman.

He said data traffic on the network in South Africa is growing at around 50 percent per year as a result of the smartphone/tablet revolution.

“The number of smart devices on our network is growing more than 30 percent year-on-year and the amount of data used by each device is growing at around 25 percent year-on-year.

“The capacity of each base station is limited. Unless we add new sites, the existing sites will become congested, resulting in patchy coverage, slow data speeds, poor call quality and more dropped calls,” said Mr Boorman.

He said the industry was facing a challenge in terms of getting approval for new sites.

“We often face the situation that we have to balance opposition from a small number of residents against the needs of hundreds if not thousands of customers, who would benefit from a new site. We choose new sites carefully to ensure the best possible coverage for customers. It’s generally not realistic to position sites away from the people who they are intended to cover,” said Mr Boorman.

Mr Boorman said Vodacom follows a strict approvals process in conjunction with the local council and added that Environmental Impact Assessments are generally not needed for base stations.

Meanwhile, some residents of Bushwillow are against the proposed installation of a cellular phone tower in the grounds of the Estate.

One of the residents, Ms Angela Rose, said she has lived in Bushwillow since January 2007 and has never been approached by Vodacom for her consent to have the tower positioned close to her property.

Ms Rose said the issue of poor cellular phone and internet signal had been raised in their annual general meetings over the past few years, with the Home Owners Association (HOA). She said the HOA agreed to look into the matter.

“I do not have a problem with cellular phone signal where I am positioned. To my knowledge, it is the middle and top of the estate which experiences the worst signal. Yet Vodacom has decided to position it at the bottom of the estate in one of the greenbelts within 50 to 100 meters of many residences. Many of those residents have small children who stand the chance of being affected by living in close proximity to the cellular phone mast and its resultant electromotive force (EMF),” said Ms Rose.

She said a residential estate is not the place to position a cellular phone mast.

“There are many other options that should have been taken into consideration, such as lamppost antenna’s which can be positioned wherever the affected residents are, if they agree to it.

She said this was an emotional issue as there are residents for and against the installation of the mast.

“The correct consulting procedures do not appear to have been followed. An environmental impact study should have been done as we have put a lot of emphasis on encouraging nature in our estate. Consultation and permission from residents who will be directly affected by the tower, health, visible pollution and substantial decreases in property value are some of the issues Vodacom should have looked at.

“I have raised my objection with the board of directors and they met on Monday, August 3, to discuss my concerns. I am awaiting their feedback. I have also requested that this be raised at our AGM, which is being held in two weeks time,” said Ms Rose.