I heard a really good joke recently that went like this:
"I looked up Ninjas on Thesaurus.com - the computer told me Ninjas could not be found - well played Ninjas, very well played..."
It made me think about how we are building wireless and telco sites and I suddenly realised that we have drifted away from the skill sets that used to be in site acquisition and design 10 years ago when sites were built with a bit more consideration and thought about how they would look - and we have sadly gone back to the mantra of "speed is king" in network roll-outs. Fast deployments are important but its project management 101 - a three legged stool of time, cost and quality - cut one leg and the stool falls over and that's what is happening here in Australia right now. We may have technical quality but if sites are getting refused on visual impact then environmental quality has left the building and that stool is wobbling or falling - impacting time and cost - (delays in town planning - having to find new sites - additional acquisition and design fees - and lost income from not getting a site on air where one is needed)
I read a press article today about how the Council for the town of Buninyong, near Ballarat had rejected an application to build a 40 metre tower because of the "unacceptable visual impact" - now it is difficult to get true public opinion out a press article but there it was - this was not about EME concerns, this was not NIMBY's this was a tower that was turned down because of visual impact. Rather concerning this tower was intended for the NBN wireless roll-out - so ultimately a government agency - surely they must have high visual standards one would think? Similar stories abound in rural areas such at Tamworth - this time again for NBN, in WA this time for Telstra, Optus has one just up the road from me - every operator has at least one and some have many many more.
And what happens in urban areas is just as bad - almost without fail when objections first start about a site it is not about EME or health or house values or noise or any other of the issues that get whipped up - no - the initial objections time after time after time are about the visual aspects - and I am not surprised because some rooftop sites look frankly horrible and they wouldn't be on my roof for sure!!
Now I know that some in the industry will say I am just plugging "Stealth " products because my company is the Australian agent for them (see http://www.entirenetworksolutions.com/infrastructure-solutions/stealth-products/) - well yes I am their agent - but here's the thing - I am their agent because I see ugly sites every day that should not be there, I see inappropriate sized towers build in view lines every day that should not be there. Above all though, most sites do not need a Stealth solution - set the antennas back a couple of metres from the roof edge - go for a lighter duty monopole that is thinner and - here's an idea - pop it into trees at just above the tree line not 20m above the treeline - if you do that then when you have an architecturally challenging site or a landowner that insists on it - well then come and speak to me about a Stealth solution because that's when you need a camouflaged solution.
As an industry we need to look at our legacy - we have a great responsibility to roll-out high speed high capacity wireless data and voice networks world wide - but where does it say they have to be horrible to look at and ruin the look of buildings to achieve it.
Lets get smarter at choosing, designing and building sites with some sympathy to the environment they are in and also with consideration for the people who live with the visual impact of sites. Sounds like Telcotom has gone soft? - well here's another thing for everyone in an operator to think about - everyone that can see that ugly site is a potential customer - everyone who protests about that site is almost certainly a customer lost - and imagine if one of your competitors was building sites with just a little more thought and didn't run into visual impact problems, didn't have councils rejecting sites for "unacceptable visual impact" - where do you think those customers churn over to....
So here's a takeaway for you - the next time you send a brief out for a new site, or if you are the one looking for, designing or building a new site - remember the Ninja joke and make your site so it cant be found.
Well played Ninjas, very well played...
