Mobile phone users experienced un-disrupted connectivity today even as the telecom tower operators scurried to bring down the emissions by 1/10th from the earlier level, starting today.
There were fears the quality of services would deteriorate, as the tower companies would now send out weaker signals to reduce emissions. However, the companies and industry associations claim there was no impact on the services as the towers are already compliant to the existing norms.
According to Rajan Matthews, director general of Cellullar Operators Association of India, “Right now, we have not seen any disruptions. Around 95 per cent of the towers are already compliant with the existing norms. There could be some disruptions in heavily congested areas where a tower needs to be replaced or adjusted.”
| GIVING OUT A STRONG SIGNAL Towers firms asked to bring down radiation by 1/10th from current level | ||
| Frequency band | Earlier permissible level of emissions | New permissible level of emissions |
| 1,800 MHz | 9.2 Watt/sqmt* | 0.92 Watt/sqmt |
| 900 MHz | 4.5 Watt/sqmt | 0.45 Watt/sqmt |
| Source: Industry. * Per square metre | ||
Despite the claims of the industry associations, there have been complaints from certain pockets of Delhi. According to Deepti Sighal, a resident of Gurgaon, the call drops has increased on her network in the last five days.
However, S N Aggarwal, activist, who works for protection of telecom users, said, “Networks are usually bad. It is premature to say whether the call drops are experienced due to reduction in radiation or because of congested network.”
He argued several towers within the city did not comply with the norms. “There are towers on the rooftops of buildings. According to the rules, there should be no towers at the same height of the adjacent building.”
It, among other things, says the minimum distance of a tower (between two antennas) should be 35 metres from a residential building.
The Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association also claimed most of the existing towers are compliant with the norms.
The government had asked telecom towers to reduce electromagnetic radiation by 1/10th from the current standards with effect from September 1.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will ensure the exposure limits (for radio frequency fields for 1,800 MHz) be brought down by one-tenth to 0.92 watt per square meter compared to the current standard 9.2 watt per square meter.
Telecom towers or base stations and their antennas provide link to and from mobile phones through radiation.
