OXFORD, United Kingdom-Tabloid newspapers in the United Kingdom have used banner headlines to alert readers that hundreds of cell-phone transmitter masts have been secretly installed in petrol stations throughout the country. The revelation has heightened growing public concern about the siting of cellular masts, with many observers demanding to know why the location of each site is not made generally available.
The petrol firm Shell allegedly allowed more than 200 masts to be installed, while Texaco has only given permission so far for 20 of its petrol stations to be used. The masts, which are installed in the pillars that display petrol prices, are only said to be identifiable by a small light at the top.
The only cell-phone operator to admit to using these masts, T-Mobile, refused to detail the location of each site or say how much it might have paid the petrol firms to use their buildings. However, despite the claims that details of the masts are secret, information is available at www.sitefinder.radio.gov.
Elsewhere, cell-phone mast protestors are believed to have brought a 100-foot aerial down to Earth, causing
