Tower of Doom in Your Compound

Tower of doom in your compound

Chitra Unnithan, TNN | Aug 7, 2012, 03.31AM IST

AHMEDABAD: Mobile phone towers may have revolutionized communication, but these towers of doom have also brought along radiation hazards.

The good news is that starting from September, India will lower the level of electromagnetic radiation from cellphone towers to one tenth of the prevailing standard - from 9.2 w/m2 (watt per square metre) to 0.92 w/m2.

But the bad news is that while operators will cut down the radiation from existing towers, they also plan to set up more cellphone towers to make up for the loss of network, and to address the issues of call drops.

"What choice do we have? If we do not put up more mobile phone towers, the quality of our services will drop," said a senior official of a private cellular company. "The Centre and telecom department should work out some policy to address the issue of call drops."

According to the official, the government has not issued any direct guideline to companies on reducing the radiation limit.

There are about 45,000 mobile phone towers in Gujarat, of which 8,000 towers are in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, according to data available with Gujarat department of telecommunications (DoT), as on June 30, 2012.

Rajeev Kushwah, ITS director (telecom enforcement, resources and monitoring) Gujarat DoT, said, "Mobile tower equipment were expensive earlier but with Chinese technology, the size of towers have reduced." Towers now cost as little as Rs 1-2 lakh, making it viable for companies to put up new ones, he said.

Technically, one cellphone tower can enable 30 people to connect through cellphones without a glitch. According to Kushwah, the same tower can provide network to up to 5 lakh people, but with major glitches.

Kirit Joshi, a resident of a Vastrapur apartment complex that has installed a mobile phone tower, said, "The complex was constructed in 2004 and the builder had signed an agreement with a telecom company that year." Joshi said the deal entailed the installation of a tower in one of the blocks. "This information was not disclosed while selling the apartments to residents and when they found out, they did not raise objections," Joshi said. "It was only recently when the harmful effects of radiation were disclosed in the media that the residents objected. When we approached the builder, he said that the agreement ends in 2013. So, we have decided to wait till then."

According to DoT guidelines, cellular operators should avoid residential areas for the erection of towers. Where it is not possible to avoid such installations, the towers shall be located in an open space or a park, with prior consent of owners of adjoining houses.

Instead of installing new mobile phone towers, if telecom companies invested in signal enhancers and raised call rates by Rs 5 paisa per minute, they can become profitable in just three years without risking the health of subscribers. This was revealed in a report presented to the government by Girish Kumar, a faculty member of the department of electrical engineering at IIT Bombay. "Telecom companies can cut radiation by installing low-power transmitters, also called as boosters, repeaters or signal enhancers," Kumar says. "Companies are making all this noise about installing additional towers because these boosters are slightly expensive."

Health hazards

According to established norms, the radiation level of 600 milliwatts per sq m is considered safe. But mobile phone towers emit electromagnetic rays above the safe limit

According to a report by the National Cancer Institute, cellphones emit radiofrequency energy, a form of non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation, which can be absorbed by tissues closest to where the phone is held. The quantum of radiofrequency energy a cellphone user is exposed to depends on the technology of the phone, the distance between the phone's antenna and the user, the extent and type of use, and the user's distance from cellphone towers.

A study by a team led by Girish Kumar, professor in the department of electrical engineering atIIT Bombay, says that using mobile phones for more than four minutes daily, or two hours per month (over 10 years of use) increases the risk of cancer and other health hazards. The study concludes that a person at any rate should not use cellphones for more than 18 to 24 minutes per day.

Other impact

Radiation causes the disappearance of butterflies, bees, insects and sparrows. A ministry of environment and forests study has blamed electromagnetic radiation from communication towers for the declining numbers of sparrows and bees. The study titled 'A possible impact of communication tower on wildlife birds and bees' said the radiation decreases egg production in bees.

Solution

Girish Kumar, a professor in the department of electrical engineering at IIT Bombay, whose research on hazards of cellphones is being used as a reference for most policy decisions in India suggests the use of boosters to enhance signals, instead of setting up additional towers. These boosters or low-power transmitters will increase transmission power and expand range.

"There are 5 lakh towers in India and each tower requires an investment of Rs 15 lakh," Kumar says. "The Centre's order will require an additional investment of Rs 75,000 crore from telecom companies, which is why they are making all this noise. Boosters will be slightly more expensive but the cost can be recovered in three years and give respect to human health at the same time."

Times View

Ensuring the quality of a call can't be more important than averting the risk of cancer and other deadly ailments. The telecom authorities should regularly monitor radiation from mobile phone towers. Harsh penalties should be imposed on operators who flout the norms to improve their profit margins.

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