Telecommunication Mast Location and It’s Health Implication for Residents in Ogbomoso, Nigeria

Abstract

Telecommunication is a major phenomenon in the socio-economic development of cities all over the world. Indeed, many cities in developing countries of the world are currently expanding their telecommunication infrastructure especially in the area of global system of mobile telecommunication (GSM) to take advantage of the benefits that telecommunication offers. It is against this background that this study evaluates the health implication of telecommunication mast on residents of Ogbomoso. 150 copies of questionnaire were randomly administered on residents within 50m service radius to the telecom mast, while 7 other copies were administered to telecommunication service providers with masts in the study area. Secondary sources of data include the register of number and locational pattern of each of the telecom masts as obtained from the respective service providers in Ibadan headquarter and Ogbomoso area offices. Likert’s scale was used to assess the perceived psychological, physiological and environmental impacts of the mast on residents, one-sample t-test was used to compare the magnitude of such impacts with the ‘test-value’ of 3.00 (condition of no impact), linear regression analysis was used in testing the relationship between residents’ health and distance to mast.The results, among others, show that: (1) while the psychological impact is not statistically significant, it is for physiological impact; (2) there is a significant relationship between residents’ health and distance to mast.. It is also found out that generator used in powering the mast causes water pollution. The study recommends that government should through its appropriate enforcement agencies, enforce laws related to location of mast in the neighbourhood. Also, telecommunication operators should be involved in corporate social responsibility of providing social services and facilities in the vicinity of telecommunication mast.

Keywords: Telecommunication, Mast, Location, Health, implication