Government is offering space on Police communications towers to private companies in an effort to reduce demand for new towers.

The Ministry of Telecommunications ran a public notice last week to invite service providers to apply for use of the space, which was made available in compliance with the Ministry's "no new towers" policy.

Telecommunications director Greg Swan said the Police service and the department would jointly assess any interest in colocation/collocation on existing tower sites.

"There is a need to ensure the current capacity of towers is used up before new ones are installed," he said.

A number of communications companies have been renting space on Police towers for some time, The Royal Gazette was told.

Management at both CellularOne and AT&T both reported the companies have been using the shared antenna space.

"We are currently co-located on some of the Police towers and we are interested in potentially working on what is needed for the towers," said AT&T Manager Jonathan Koshar.

"They're available to accommodate anyone one who needs additional antenna space and then we can figure out how much weight a tower can take and assess whether there is need for a new tower."

He added: "We don't want Bermuda looking like a porcupine with antennas sticking up all over the place."

Cable & Wireless' director of corporate communications and market strategy Charmaine Burgess said mainly cell phone providers co-locate and C&W company would not be pursuing the offer.

Those interested in applying for permission to use the tower space can collect application forms from Police headquarters.

Deadline for applications is October 31, 2003.