Over the past few years, the public concern over electromagnetic field radiation (EMF) from base transceiver stations (BTSs) and mobile handsets has been increasing. This issue was first raised in a 2010 report on cell phone tower radiation submitted to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) by Professor Girish Kumar of IIT Bombay. The report highlighted the health hazards of radiation from cell phones and cell towers, and alleged that the radiation guidelines recommended by institutions like the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and the Federal Communications Commission were not adequate. Thereafter, independent studies were conducted in India and calls made for stricter norms.

WHO has always maintained that radiation from BTSs and mobile handsets does not have any adverse short-term or long-term effect on health. The organisation conducted an in-depth review of scientific literature and referred to approximately 25,000 articles published worldwide over the past 30 years, concluding that the current evidence did not confirm the existence of any health consequences from exposure to EMF radiation.

At present, India has stringent EMF radiation norms in comparison with global standards for the 450,000-odd telecom towers in the country. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) recently stated that EMF radiation levels were found to be within the prescribed limits after a random check across 200,000 BTSs in India in 2014-15. They were found to have only 10 milliwatts of EMF radiation, while the safety limit is up to 450 milliwatts. However, the general public continues to be wary and has been opposing the erection of new towers. This has affected service delivery to end-users.

tele.net takes a look at the evolution of EMF standards and the continuing debate on the setting up of more tower sites to reduce call drops and the need to monitor their numbers due to EMF radiation concerns…

Addressing the issue

On July 10, 2012, the Allahabad High Court issued an order asking the central government to look into the issues raised by Professor Kumar regarding EMF radiation from telecom towers. It also said that mobile towers should be installed at a reasonable distance from residential localities. The high court called for the constitution of a committee with members from IITs, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi and the Indian Council of Medical Research for submitting a comprehensive report to the government. This report was to outline the necessary precautions to be taken while granting permissions for mobile towers.

In September 2012, the government made it mandatory for telecom operators to reduce the power of the radio frequency in their towers to a tenth of the global standard. It also directed them to maintain a certain distance from a building when installing antennaes. While industry bodies opposed this move due to its impact on service quality, even WHO strongly disagreed with the decision, stating that it would be detrimental to human health. In a meeting with DoT officials in September 2013, WHO said that the reduced power of the towers had increased emission hazards for mobile phone users as it made mobile handsets transmit higher radiation to stay connected to the network. WHO went on to state that the estimated EMF radiation from a mobile handset was a 1,000 times higher than that of a BTS. It also said that the current EMF standards in India would make it difficult to deliver next-generation technologies.

In February 2014, DoT’s 13-member committee submitted its report to the government and said there was no cause for alarm as the Indian limits had taken into account all the biological effects of radi-ation. In fact, these limits were much stricter than ICNIRP’s internationally adopted recommendations, which account for thermal and non-thermal effects. However, the panel also recommended the following measures:

• DoT should continue the extensive audit of certificates submitted by telecom service providers to ensure compliance with the prescribed norms for EMF radiation from BTSs.
• The Department of Science and Technology and the Indian Council of Medical Research should conduct extensive India-specific scientific studies on the prolonged use of mobile phones to conclusively determine the possible health hazards they pose from EMF radiation.
• DoT should create a national EMF web portal to keep the public updated about the status of compliance with the prescribed norms.
• Steps should be taken to increase the awareness of EMF radiation effects as well as the associated precautions to allay undue apprehensions.

DoT’s Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring (TERM) field units conduct extensive audits of the self-certificates submitted by telecom service providers and BTS sites in order to ensure their compliance with the precautionary radiation norms. In cases where these norms are violated, DoT issues penalties of up to Rs 1 million per BTS per incidence. This is done for the purpose of limiting radiation exposure and ensuring the safety of public areas in the vicinity of towers.

Operator concerns

In the debate over EMF radiation from tower sites, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and leading telecom operators have stated that radiation fears have been inhibiting tower installations. This has affected services and led to an increase in call drops. In addition the industry has stressed on the lack of spectrum as another factor affecting mobile network connectivity.

Recently, Bharti Airtel cited the lack of adequate mobile phone towers as the primary reason for frequent call drops. The operator has urged for the misinformation regarding the effects of radiation from these towers to be cleared up. BSNL has also stated that it is facing serious challenges in upgrading its services in the north-eastern part of the country despite getting adequate funding from the government. It has said that this is due to residents objecting to the setting up of BTSs due to concerns over radiation from mobile towers. BSNL customers, meanwhile, have been complaining about the poor quality of network connectivity and services in suburbs and rural locations.

The issue of call drops has also led the Ministry of Communications and IT (MoCIT) to conduct an assessment of telecom networks. It has asked the Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association for statistics and information on the number of towers installed across the country between March 31, 2013 and March 31, 2015. However, the ministry continues to be of the opinion that the spectrum available to operators is not scarce, and has asked mobile phone carriers to improve their efficiencies.

The way forward

While studies continue to be carried out for assessing the impact of radiation in India, the scientific community largely agrees that radiation from tower sites is not detrimental to health. To deal with the public opposition that is affecting the provisioning of next-generation services, DoT is planning to create a web portal to provide information on telecom tower radiation. This will allow the public to access the status of tower compliance with the prescribed EMF norms. A pilot version of the portal has been tested in Mumbai, Haryana, Karnataka and Hyderabad, and its pan-Indian roll-out will be taking place shortly. Meanwhile, telecom operators as well as COAI are conducting their own awareness campaigns regarding EMF radiation from towers.

The MoCIT has announced several measures to deal with the issue of call drops. Apart from the TERM assessment, it is propagating the use of in-building solutions (IBSs). DoT is planning to approach the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) to enable IBSs through a shared facility for service providers in all central government buildings in metropolitan cities. This would help reduce the load on networks. For the Delhi region, DoT will approach the MoUD and the New Delhi Municipal Corporation for allowing government buildings to be used for the installation of mobile towers under specific terms and conditions. These proposed measures have been welcomed by the industry, which needs to install more BTS and towers to meet the demand for data services.