Cancer fears over mobile phone antennae at university in Hong Kong

It must rank as one of the most spectacular university campuses in the world - a dramatic vista commanding vertigo-inducing views across some of the most unspoilt stretches of coastline in the New Territories.

But compare the outlook from the dizzy heights of the University of Science and Technology in Clear Water Bay to that of a few years ago and you may notice that something new breaks up the horizon of outlying islands and passing yachts: dozens of mobile phone antennae.

In a process that began some six years ago, telecom companies have paid the university to put more and more antennae on teaching blocks and student and staff quarters to improve mobile phone signals in a once notoriously patchy corner of the city for reception.

From just a handful of antennae in 2007, long-term campus residents count 87 rooftop antennae, or base stations, dotted liberally across campus buildings in what may be the highest density of mobile phone antennae per head of population anywhere in Hong Kong.

For the university, with its student body of 12,600 and teaching staff of over 500, it's a win-win arrangement.

Mobile phone companies improve their coverage, including the signal on campus, and provide welcome funds for the university's scholarship programme (although it will not say precisely how much).