Ofcom - Updated information on the Sitefinder website

Ofcom has said that information has now been updated on the Sitefinder website. The Sitefinder website shows the location and characteristics of mobile phone base stations that use the GSM, TETRA and UMTS technologies.

This follows constructive discussions with mobile network operators (MNOs) and others to resume voluntary provision of this data to Ofcom to ensure that the website can continue to be a useful source of information.

3, O2, Orange, Vodafone, Airwave and Network Rail all supply data to Ofcom at approximately three month intervals. T-Mobile has declined to provide updated data since August 2005.

Sitefinder is an important public resource; Ofcom is fully committed to supporting it on behalf of the Government and the general public.

On 4 September 2007, following a Freedom of Information request, the Information Tribunal upheld a decision by the Information Commissioner that Ofcom must supply the full Sitefinder dataset to parties who request it, including the names of operators, locations and power levels of all mobile base stations. Ofcom has decided to appeal this decision and a further hearing in the High Court is anticipated.

Background

The 2000 Stewart Report recommended that a national database should be established giving details of all mobile phone base stations, making it easy for the public to identify all base stations in a defined area. The Government asked the Radiocommunications Agency (now Ofcom) to set up the database, known as Sitefinder, and the MNOs agreed to provide the necessary data voluntarily.
http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/

Originally all the networks freely provided information on the exact location of their sites to the database but they ceased doing so after a number of campaigns directed against these sites. The campaigns were based on the mistaken belief that any form of electromagnetic radiation is inherently dangerous. Ironically many of the parents involved in these campaigns were more than happy to buy their own children mobile phones!