Planning Process for Installation of Mobile Phone Base Stations
Ministry of National DevelopmentSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Er Dr Lee Bee Wah’s proposal to review mobile base station installation processes and mandate mobile coverage for a building's Temporary Occupation Permit. Minister Lawrence Wong explained that the Housing and Development Board and Infocomm Development Authority are working to expedite approvals and incorporate infrastructure requirements during pre-tender planning. He also noted that legislative amendments are being considered to facilitate using rooftop space to provide coverage to adjacent buildings. Minister Lawrence Wong concluded that these cooperative efforts among stakeholders make mandating mobile coverage as a permit condition unnecessary at this time.
Transcript
24 Er Dr Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for National Development whether the Ministry will review the planning process for the installation of mobile phone base stations to enable such stations to be built during a building's construction stage and make mobile coverage a mandatory compliance for that building's Temporary Occupation Permit.
Mr Lawrence Wong: Adequate mobile coverage should be provided to new buildings in a timely manner. Currently, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) install mobile base stations on the rooftops of selected new Housing and Development Board (HDB) blocks to ensure that the area will have good mobile coverage when the residents move in. However, there could be operational delays, such as construction delays to blocks selected for base station installation.
HDB has been working with all stakeholders, including Town Councils, the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) and MNOs, to study how to expedite the installation of such base stations. For example, HDB and IDA are looking into the possibility of expediting approval procedures between MNOs and Town Councils. HDB and IDA are also exploring the possibility of incorporating MNOs’ infrastructure and engineering requirements during the pre-tender planning phase of new HDB developments, so that the subsequent physical base station installation works could be accelerated.
Finally, the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) and IDA are considering amendments to the Telecommunications Act to facilitate the use of rooftop space of one building to provide mobile coverage in another building. If implemented, it will be easier for MNOs to deploy their equipment on the rooftops of adjacent buildings to improve mobile coverage of a particular area.
Given these ongoing efforts, there may not be a need to mandate mobile coverage as a Temporary Occupation Permit condition for each new building. Ultimately, it is more important to ensure close and effective cooperation among all the relevant stakeholders, which go beyond the developer of the building project.