No health hazard from mobile phone towers: Govt

Radioactive signals from mobile phone towers do not cause health problems, Telecom Minister A Raja informed the Rajya Sabha today.

"No medical inference has been drawn that this radioactivity (from telecom towers) is injurious to health," he said during Question Hour.

He said the World Health Organisation has reported no harmful symptoms from signals emitting from telecom towers.

Raja said the government was aware of reports in media about signals from telecom towers causing health problems and the matter was referred to the Health Ministry and ICMR. But, no health hazard has so far been identified, he said.

The Standing Advisory Committee on Radio Frequency Allocations examines the cases from electromagnetic compatibility, line-of-sight obstruction and aviation hazard points of view.

Mobile towers are being installed by telecom service providers based on clearances issued by Wireless Planning and Coordination Wing of Department of Telecom.

However, before installation of towers, service providers have to obtain necessary clearances from concerned municipal authorities or local bodies, Minister of State for Telecom Sachin Pilot said.

"State governments/municipal authorities have formulated their own policy for grant of permission for installation of tower," he said.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has started pre-consultation process on 'Telecom Towers and Related Issues' for seeking stakeholders comments.

Based on the inputs received from stakeholders, TRAI is contemplating floating a consultation paper on issues pertaining to telecom towers, he said.

To a separate question, Raja said TRAI has issued a pre- consultation paper to identify the issues involved in introduction of 4G services such as allocation and pricing of spectrum for such services and issues related to licensing.

To another query, Pilot said Himachal Pradesh had a tele-density higher than the national average - 23 per cent in rural areas and 100 per cent urban areas.

Of over 17,500 villages, 17,300 have been already connected with telephone facility and the remaining would be done this year, he said.

State-owned BSNL has 11.90 lakh mobile customers in the state and will add another 6.67 lakh this fiscal.

Raja said the Government does not interfere in BSNL's tendering and the company takes decision independently.