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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has directed all telecom operators and media institutions to comply with guidelines on the deployment of towers and masts or face sanctions. The erection of masts and towers in some communities in the country has, over the years, attracted concern from some residents that they could be affected by radiation. Others have also expressed fear over the possibility of the masts and towers collapsing and falling on them because of their height. The EPA said it had the mandate to institute court action and impose sanctions on tower and mast operators who failed to abide by the guidelines on the installation of communication towers and masts. Mr Lawrence Kotoe, a Senior Programmes Officer of the Environmental Assessment and Audit Department of the EPA, made this known during a stakeholders� forum on guidelines for the installation of towers and masts in Accra on Thursday. The forum, which was organised by the National Communications Authority (NCA), was on the theme, �Effective application of the guidelines on communication masts and towers�. It was aimed at educating the public on the deployment of communication towers and masts in the country, the existence and implementation of the guidelines, as well as discuss the challenges encountered during the implementation and the way forward. It was also to encourage cross-fertilisation of ideas among the government, regulators and private sector players to gain critical input and analyse specific considerations in achieving the policy goal of sustainable and competitive communications development. Mr Kotoe urged telecommunication operators to conform to the environmental permit conditions in order to save themselves the pain of having their communication towers removed from some sites. The Deputy Director-General of the NCA, Mr Albert E. Anniful, said negative and wrong perceptions about telecommunications masts and towers were still prevalent in the minds of the public. He was optimistic that the forum would give all participants the needed platform for effective deliberation and knowledge sharing to enable them to move forward in a consensus on the issue of masts and towers.