Insufficient towers linked to poor mobile services: TRAI

The lack of adequate number of mobile towers was one of the reasons for deteriorating quality of mobile services, officials of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said here on Monday.

"Lack of adequate number of mobile towers is one of the reasons for deteriorating quality of mobile services," said Agneshwar Sen, advisor for TRAI.

Sen said the guidelines for EMF radiations from BTS (base transceiver station) and mobile handsets in India were very stringent compared to other countries, including benchmarked standards of developed nations.

Allaying fears of the public, Suresh Kumar Gupta, principal advisor for TRAI, stressed that the Indian government through TRAI and the telecom department has put in place and "implemented stringent emission norms that ensure no adverse effects on human health from mobile tower emissions".

"Mobile tower radiations are nothing more than radio waves whose energy and frequency levels were far too low or weak in strength to present any risk or hazard to health," Gupta said at an interactive session on EMF radiation on human health.

The officials informed that various international organisations, including the WHO, have stated, in no uncertain terms, that there was "no convincing evidence linking EMF exposures with health effects in adults or children".