Environmental and visual impact

The environmental and visual impact of base stations are two of the environmental concerns identified in Telefónica's Environmental Management System. They demand careful assessment and/or mitigation from the facility planning stage right through to final dismantling and removal.

Assessing the potential environmental and visual impact of an installation is especially important during the network planning and construction stages, as the objective is to base the design on visual and environmental factors, as well as strictly technical criteria.

Aware of the potential impact of its network infrastructure on the surroundings, Telefónica follows a specific approach to assessing the visual impact of the telecommunications towers. Designed and rolled out for the first time in the 1990s, this approach has gradually been instilled by the Company in the countries where it operates.

It has been included in the design of the Global EMS in 2008 as a work tool for the Company's mobile operations. In this way, a visual impact assessment of the installation is made in order to choose the most appropriate site, as well as suitable measures to reduce this environmental impact.

Among Telefónica's practices to reduce visual impact and adapt its installations to the surroundings, a general distinction is made between:

• looking for sites with the least impact on the environment
• using existing infrastructure to take advantage of heights
• applying advanced techniques to minimise the visual impact of this type of installations
• sharing spaces and infrastructures with other operators
  

highlighting as operating tools and approaches the performance of environmental impact studies and the assessment of the visual fragility of the area before installing a base station.

A total of 954 environmental impact studies were carried out in 2008. The table provides a breakdown of the environmental impact studies carried out in 2008 by Telefónica's main countries and regions of operation.

The chart below shows the comparison between the environmental impact studies carried out in 2007 and 2008.

Expand Initiatives to reduce visual impact

In 2008, Telefónica increased the amount of shared infrastructures with other operators by 100% and invested over 3 million euros to minimise and/or correct the visual impact of its bases stations.

Expand Rollout in protected areas

In protected areas, Telefónica applies special criteria to protect and preserve the natural habitat. Through specially designed practices, the Company strives to blend the installation into its surroundings so that it becomes another part of the landscape.