The further away the better? Factors influencing the public’s location preferences for mobile phone base stations. A 10-country study.

New mobile phone base stations are frequently opposed by the public, even though mobile phones are used by most of the population. While such reaction has often been described as NIMBYism (‘not in my back yard’), this label offers little insight into the psychological mechanisms underlying such opposition. The present mixed-methods research moves beyond a simple NIMBY interpretation through an in-depth investigation of public location preferences for 4G- plus 5G-capable base stations. Study 1 included six focus groups conducted in December 2022, and Study 2 was a ten-country survey (n = 10,358) conducted between September-December 2023. In both studies, participants were asked to select their preferred base station site from six hypothetical locations and indicate the reasons underlying their choice. Overall, many participants followed one of two siting approaches: approach A preferring locations ‘as far away as possible’, and approach B preferring the ‘least visually appealing’ location. While in Study 1 participants tended to follow approach B (16 out of 35), in Study 2 approach A was followed most frequently (53.6%). Among the reasons surveyed, distance had the greatest influence on location preferences, followed by reception, exposure to EMFs, and visual appearance. Distance and EMF were strongly correlated ( r = .531), which is why we assume that distance was a proxy for reduced exposure. However, greater distance can in fact increase overall exposure due to the increased power required for higher handset transmission. Age, gender, risk perception, exposure perception, use of 5G, acceptance and the expected impact of 5G were also associated with the choice of location. We found that widespread public communication efforts are needed to explain how 5G technology works, and that other issues such as visual amenity also need to be sensitively managed. Our results inform the broader discourse on base station siting: communication between stakeholders needs to be improved, fostering mutual understanding of preferences, and guiding decision-making for both telecommunication companies and the public. • Investigation into people’s location preferences for 4G- plus 5G-capable base stations • Mixed methods study, comprising focus groups and an international survey (n>10,000) • Preference for farther and visually unappealing locations found • Location preferences mainly influenced by considerations about distance