Appeal against every third cell phone antenna

 
Unpleasant times for mobile phone operators in Switzerland: according to a report by Sonntag, every third new cell phone antenna is now the subject of an appeal. And opposition to the new sites has apparently been gradually increasing over the past two years. This is not only problematic with regard to the almost 800 planning applications currently pending from Swisscom, Sunrise and Orange, which are intended to help improve the network. The planned switch to the new UMTS transmission standard, for which an estimated 6,000 new antennas will have to be built, is also likely to be extremely time-consuming to implement. A total of around 11,000 cell phone antennas are in operation in Switzerland. Appeals can delay the construction of an antenna by up to five years. However, more than one delay has rarely been achieved; only a few dozen antennas have not been built due to objections. According to Sonntag, the Federal Court is not entirely innocent of the fact that the discussion about cell phone sites is currently being fueled even more. In a decision last summer, it apparently allowed the municipalities to exert a certain amount of influence on site planning. This further complicates the approval process.