Mobile mast ban is Paris's first
Locals win ruling over antenna 15m from a man's bedroom - but court says the health risks are still not certain
MOBILE phone giant Orange has been banned from building a rooftop mast in a residential district in Paris after locals complained.
The court ruling is thought to be the first case in France of an antenna being banned because it is near a house rather than near a school.
Orange, which is France’s biggest mobile operator, wanted to install a relay antenna in the 13th arrondissement in the south-east corner of the city where reception is said to be patchy.
Locals living on the Avenue d’Italie took legal action because the proposed site for the mast was just 15 metres away from a 70-year-old man’s bedroom.
The man told France Info he had read on the internet that “a lot of people living near masts complain of headaches and insomnia”.
The court ruled that although scientific research so far has not proved with certainty that electromagnetic waves from phone masts are dangerous, the risk to the public could not be ignored.
Orange said it was a surprised by the ruling and was planning to appeal against it. The firm faces a fine of €5,000 a day if it ignores the ban and goes ahead with the installation.
Other installations have been ordered to be taken down in the past because of their proximity to schools. In February, Bouygues Telecom and SFR were ordered to remove masts near Avignon and Lyon respectively.
