Noise Control

In 2008 we designed an Environmental Management System to monitor the entire Group's noise emissions under Noise Measurement Plans. This instrument assures strict compliance with applicable regulations and mitigates inconvenience to the public from our network infrastructure.

Another major environmental issue in operating our business is the noise generated by a number of specific facilities, particularly during network operation and maintenance. We therefore monitor noise emissions preventively so that any deviation from acceptable levels can be brought back into line.

Special care is taken with installations whose noise sources - mainly air conditioning equipment and electricity generators - are near urban or residential areas. Our aim is to minimize the noise and avoid causing any nuisance to the local residents.

Noise control in all the countries where we do business comes under a newly designed procedure of our global Environmental Management System, and applies across the entire Telefónica Group. The procedure picks out the sites where we need to measure our noise, and specifies our noise measurement methodology. Telefónica thus assures strict compliance with noise regulations and integrates this aspect of environmental citizenship with our wider operations.

Several of our operating areas now run noise control procedures via Noise Measurement Plans. We assess all sites making up our network and use a range of technical and environmental criteria to select the facilities where noise emissions should be measured. With the implementation of our global Environmental Management System, Noise Measurement Plans will extend to the rest of the Group's operations.

In the course of 2008 we took a total of 906 noise emission readings, which led to 176 noise reduction actions. Our noise reduction efforts over the year commanded an investment of €3 million.

Noise emission levels are addressed by a range of techniques to soundproof noise sources using dampening materials. If you would like to find out more about our noise control effort, our CSR Atlas flags some of the projects completed in 2008, such as Proyecto Green Belt at Movistar Colombia.