TOO MANY MOBILE PHONE TOWERS

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Sydney, 7th August 1997. For immediate release.

MOBILE PHONE TOWERS MULTIPLYING
 
LIKE MUSHROOMS AFTER RAIN
 
DUE TO FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INDECISION

Indecision by the Federal Government has caused much of the colossal increase in the number of mobile phone towers, according to Boyd Munro, President of APUMP (the Mobile Phone User Group).

"Mobile Phone towers are growing throughout Australia's suburbs like mushrooms after rain", claims Munro. "There's no need for this. The previous government blundered when it decided to force the closure of Australia's existing mobile 'phone network by 31st December 1999" says Munro "and the present government has not yet acted to correct that blunder. The existing network (known as Analogue AMPS) is being replaced by a completely incompatible, and greatly inferior, network (known as Digital GSM). The GSM system was designed for the very densely-populated countries of Europe, and it needs far more towers than the AMPS network does. This is because GSM towers have shorter range than AMPS towers, and GSM phones are less sensitive than AMPS phones.

"No other major country is forcing its analogue AMPS system off the air. There is no technical reason why Australia should do so. The real reason this is happening is because it's a bonanza for the mobile phone companies. Almost 3 million perfectly good analogue AMPS mobile phones will be thrown away in the next 2 years.

"I call on the Minister for Communications, Senator Alston, to reverse the mistaken decision of the previous Labor Government, and halt the closure of the analogue network. This blunder is disfiguring Australia's landscape because of the huge number of unnecessary phone towers being built. It is also wasting our national resources because so much excellent equipment is being needlessly scrapped.

"I appeal to everyone affected by this issue to join APUMP and make your voice heard. Call us on Sydney 9555 9300, or write to GPO Box 5344, Sydney, 2001 or visit us on the Internet at www.apump.com".

...ends

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