Cellphone tower 'irritations' rile residents

Farm Cove residents and their supporters say interference with TV, phone and power reception all arrived with the cell tower. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Sleepless nights, dropped mobile calls, flickering lights and Sky TV interference are just some of the problems Pakuranga residents are linking to the arrival of mobile operator 2degrees.

Since 2degrees installed a transmission tower and associated cabinet on Elimar Drive in Pakuranga's Farm Cove suburb, Mike Davidson, who lives over the road from the site, says he has been kept awake at night by the high-pitched humming of the cabinet.

"It's an irritation that you can't get rid of," he said.

Cellphone calls to Mr Davidson's building inspection business, which he runs from home, need to be taken in the garage - which is the only place in the house where he can get coverage on his Vodafone phone these days.

A street away on Hamish Place, Maree Clegg and Kira Chilcott can't hear the buzz from the cellphone cabinet but say reception on their Vodafone phones has degraded since the arrival of the 2degrees cell tower.

Mrs Clegg said her husband now had to walk to the back of their section to get reception on his work phone.

Vodafone technicians could not confirm if the interference was from the tower, but said it was "unlikely".

Vodafone said there was a "known issue" in the area and technicians were working on it.

Mrs Clegg and Mrs Chilcott said they, with their neighbours, suffered flickering lights, blown fuses and interference to their Sky TV reception.

A spokesperson for Sky Television said there were no issues linked with Vodafone and Telecom's networks and doubted the 2degrees tower was the source of the interference.

The neighbours all agree the cell site is an eyesore.

"All we see from our window is the tower," said Mrs Clegg.

Under new standards introduced last year, telecommunications companies can erect transmission equipment without needing a resource consent if they comply with height, size, noise and emission standards.

Mana Forbes, who handles community liaison at 2degrees, said acoustic technicians would check the Elimar Drive cabinet in the next few days.

He said radio technicians at the company agreed with the assessment that the interference problems to Sky TV and cellphone coverage were unlikely to be caused by the tower.

Mr Forbes said the flickering lights and electricity short-outs were probably caused by moisture entering underground electricity cables. He said the Elimar Drive site had not been the first choice of location for the transmission tower.

"We looked a number of sites and where we ended up there in Elimar is not the preferred location, it wasn't where we absolutely wanted to go, but we went there because we were given a consent to go there by council as a site under their recommendation."

Manukau City councillor Sharon Stewart last week organised a public meeting attended by 200 residents to protest about the cell sites springing up in Manukau.

Mr Forbes said 2degrees representatives did not attend the meeting because the company was concerned it would not get a fair hearing.

Mrs Stewart has been fighting the erection of cell towers in residential areas for 12 years and is leading a push to undo the standards allowing telcos to place equipment in front of residential dwellings.