Mobile operators adopt friendlier approach

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As mobile phone penetration increases amongst businesses and consumers, operators are showing much more willingness to consult local people when submitting plans for base station sites, say experts.

Seven out of 10 mobile operators are happy to engage in this type of dialogue, compared to just eight per cent five years ago, according to research from Ipsos MORI, which was sponsored by the Mobile Operators Association.

Today, there are more than 65 million mobile phones in use in the UK. This number will continue to rise and will demand more network support than the current 47,000 radio base stations can provide.

Traditionally, operators and planners have had somewhat of a love/hate relationship regarding the approach taken to new base construction.

However, as the research shows, things have changed in recent years.

The research reveals that more than 80 per cent of local authority planners feel that operators have raised the bar in terms of the quality of planning information they now provide.

"This research demonstrates that operators are working successfully to deliver improved information and communication year on year, both with local authorities and local communities," said Mike Dolan, executive director of the Mobile Operators Association.

"We would encourage planners to take the earliest opportunity of engaging with operators, which is provided by the annual rollout plans sent out to them in October each year."

In separate news this week, analyst IDC published figures showing that the mobile phone market is still buoyant in Europe.

Its statistics suggest that the Western European market grew by seven per cent year-on-year to more than 41 million units shipped in the second quarter of 2006.

Nokia clung to the top spot in terms of vendor performance, with a year-on-year increase of 11 per cent, bolstering its market share in the second quarter to more than a third (35 per cent).

Recently, the demand for phones with converged functionality has been outpacing that of traditional mobile phones, according to the analyst. But that growth was only marginal during the second quarter.

As a result, IDC reckons the feature phone will excel.

"The advantages of an open, evolved operating system for manufacturers, operators, and developers with regard to cost, time to market, and rich customisation advantages are undeniable," said Andrew Brown, program manager for IDC's European Mobile Devices and Computing division.

"However, from the perspective of most consumers the advanced capability is still either deemed unnecessary or lies invisible behind considerations such as form factor and multimedia capability."

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