Losing Our (small bit of) Paradise.

Tobi Hughes·
Madeira News

Losing Our (small bit of) Paradise.
24th May 2022

As many others who visited this beautiful island and have decided to call it home, and have likewise made a substantial investment in property, it really irritates me to see this paradise losing ground to the respect-less attitude of the telephone companies who just plant their poles, boxes and coils of cable wherever they feel it is most comfortable for them!

Two years ago my wife and I returned home to find that MEO had planted such an eyesore smack in front of our house thus ruining our pristine vista of canyons, hills and ocean and also those of 4 other properties. I of-course complained and asked why they could not have just placed their ugly infrastructure behind our homes as there are no homes behind us (but alas, to no avail). A year later NOS decides to double-up this environmental nightmare with their own set of 6 cables, so now we have 12 strings of black spaghetti plus diverse odds and ends sprawling about!

It is generally known that, purchasing a home is the most costly and important investment that most people embark-on and now, as we’ve been told via the media: properties on Madeira have increased on an average of over 20 plus percent this last year alone. As this is the case, I decided to have our property valued to verify that it was properly and fully-insured. I was informed that it had indeed increased in value, but as the view was compromised by all the poles and cables and such, that the property’s value has also unfortunately been compromised considerably, due to the deteriorated/ obstructed view!

MEO and NOS apparently have carte blanche and impunity to install anything they wish at any local without taking any regard to those who will be deprived of their views, and have to live with the consequences of their unsympathetic and malaise installations. It has been heart breaking for us and surely others to have our/ their bit of paradise defaced/ ruined by this outdated technology.

In urban areas, cables are the solution, but placed underground! Today other countries with the advent of 5G and 5G cordless routers are going in that direction (I use cordless 5G in my summer home in Denmark and have no problems whatsoever; this nonsense of hanging cables all about is no-longer necessary. To MEO & NOS; Get in the game, and save our island paradise!

Thank you, and I invite all to share their opinions regarding this issue.

Clive Morrell, Calheta

It has to be one of my hates on the island, and I’m sure for many others.  A few more photos from friends.

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Tobi Hughes

20 Responses

  1. Surprised, with fewer and fewer folk using landlines. And now with Madeira getting 5G (maybe!) they will be even less necessary. And then presumably you will have a whole new set of lovely towers for the 5G……..

  2. Had the same, asked why they didn’t use same pole, they said they used to but now can’t. Expected more posts the more companies emerge. They also put up a pole even though we have underground in the pavement. They said it’s for some of the older already built houses, it’s easier/cheaper to put wires to having to channel underground to their property.

  3. I am a HUGE hater of wires. This should be regulated by some local authority. It is not OK to place these eyesore monstrosities where ever they want.

      1. Base Rock ground & Valley Contours is their reason not to …. plus expense of so doing. Cheers Tobi, great Munchies!

  4. While we’re at it, I’m surprised at the amount of light pollution on the island. I’d love it if there were some ordinances introduced that required lights to be covered / facing down to minimize the light pollution. Known as ‘cutting off light at the horizontal’, this ensures that light is used to illuminate the ground, not the sky. Another approach could be like the Spanish market city of Vélez-Málaga which recently adopted a dimmable warm-white light system for its streets, giving it lower watt lighting on demand and better illuminating its streets in the process.

    1. I couldn’t agree more. The night sky can still be beautiful, just. Anywhere near London all you see is a light haze obscuring the stars. A lot of energy could be saved too.

  5. Yep, did it to us in Gaula, over x3 years ago…ruined our B&B view….just for x1 house special deal to change to NOS cable…wouldn’t use MEO Pole behind us..local “MP” couldn’t help … too much company money, carte blanche….became spaghetti junction….that and fighting other ILLEGAL buildings works (stopped x3 apartment blocks being built on agricultural land next to us) caused us to sell & return to Wales … after x15 years Spoiled our business, contributions to local economy tax etc. Gave up bad for health, Madeira had changed too much….and it will only get worse. Such a shame. Corruption. Greed.

  6. Underground is easier on the eyes of course, but if above ground is inevitable, those companies have a horrible eye for aesthetics… I’m sure someone can be bribed to install the poles in better locations… Bribes are faster and way more efficient than lawsuits 🙂

    Either way, I would choose poles and cables over 5G any day.

  7. Looks like the wires are mostly power cables, perhaps houses should only be able to use candles another case of NIMBYs

    1. Hello Mike, Yes some of the photos in this piece have shown power cables (also an eje sore), perhaps it’s time that the technical staff of Electricidade Madeira should also attend a “2nd. Millennium” refresher course in electrical engineering.

    2. In that case Mike, every house (holder) on Madeira is a NIMBY … (*:*) NOT mostly power cables … take a good look around…more like the millions of comms wires strung up in Indian = and not a BT technical help line operative in sight!

    4. I consider all of this beautiful island as “My Back Yard” and you should too!

  8. With regard to installations, in urban areas, optic cable is usually placed in channels under the sidewalks where they branch-off to the adjacent buildings and are easily accessed for service. with regard to more towers/ masts, the new 5G senders will just replace the present 4G senders as has been the case with earlier versions of GSM senders.

  9. I have to agree with the author of this article. The mass of wires is just an incredible eyesore and blight, ruining so many views! I know going underground is more complicated and costly, but surely even those who are making money off of this can see the ugliness they are spreading. It’s strange to me that there isn’t some sort of government agency to address these concerns and seek out other options.

    1. the government receives funding not to implement the required legislation — allegedly from NOS and MEO in the form of brown envelopes….at a far lesser cost than “going underground”.

  10. I’m going to spare you some details, mostly because I don’t want to ruin my own mood by reliving them.

    It took a month to get our fixed internet up and running in Porto Santo, despite having started the process with MEO a full month before our move. We gave up on MEO after a comedy of errors, miscommunication, and internal inefficiencies. NOS sent installers quickly, who decided the job could not be done without putting a new pole in the ground, and this would take an indeterminate amount of time. I pointed out that the condominium had “telecom” metallic hatches in the ground in front of all townhouses and was only built 7 years ago: surely everything was already set up to connect us underground… but I was ignored. So we waited, and waited and waited. Weeks rolled by and no pole. I tried to get things to progress with visits to the NOS shop but despite them being lovely there, I was given the sense that there was nothing anybody on earth could do. Finally, the installers returned out of the blue and connected us within one hour, WITHOUT INSTALLING A POLE.

    Amongst MANY other things, my experience demonstrates they certainly are inclined to want to install poles when it isn’t necessary. On a positive note though, NOS internet service in Porto Santo is MUCH more reliable than MEO was in our previous home in Funchal, so far.

  11. We also have one in front of our otherwise beautiful view of the ocean. Alas, if our brains only had photoshop.

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