In February 2014, the GSMA published its updated Base Station Planning Permission in Europe report, which presents a cross-country analysis of the base station planning procedures for 27 EU Member States and third countries (Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and Turkey).
Mobile network antenna sites need to be located close to where people want to use their phones to access voice and data services. Requirements and conditions that operators face in order to be granted a permit for a network antenna vary largely from one European country to the other, according to the new GSMA report, which indicates a trend towards increasing delays in granting permissions.
In many EU Member States, it takes, on average, one year or more to receive all permits necessary to deploy a network antenna site. However, in some countries, procedures to avoid delays have been implemented, including exemptions for small installations or certain site upgrades and ‘one stop shop’ licensing procedures.
Read the full report here.