Telecom Industry splits over Telecom Equipments/Tower’s Radiation

Controversy enlivened the 2nd International Conference Green Telecom India 2010-India’s only event on Green Telecom here today over the allegedly high level of radiation and pollution from telecom towers and equipment including handsets.

Highlighting the lack of regulations on radiation and other pollutants from telecom towers and equipment, Rajiv Mehrotra, president of Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association (TEMA), asked why it was the same foreign manufacturers who were implementing extremely low levels of radiation for their equipment in their countries were not using these technologies in the items they were selling in this country.

According to international data he read, out of global pollution of 3.8 million tonnes , as much as 2.8 million tonnes was generated from India even though India had less number of cell phone subscribers. Mr. Mehrotra alleged “double standards” in the case of foreign manufacturers. The TEMA chairman’s contention however was countered later by director-general of Cellular Operators Association of India, Mr. Rajan Mathew.

“One telecom tower company uses two billion liters of diesel “Mr. Mehrotra, who is also founder chairman and CEO of VNL pointed out.” In the West they do not radiate at such high power in the tower” he added. He also raised the danger from huge use of diesel. “One base station leaves 60 tons of carbon dioxide a year.The numbers already installed spew 6 million tons of CO2 every year. More cells, more noise and more radiation” he remarked recalling that cell phones and towers would reach out to 6 laky villages soon.

His remark that sparrows die from radiation from these towers raised a stir in the audience of telecom operators and executives. “There is no law to regulate these” he regretted. He called for immediate government action to enforce international standards here.

However, Director-General of Cellular Operators Association of India, Rajan Mathew revealed that a joint study of EMF of telecom equipment in 100 locations conducted by telecom operators, IIT Madras and Madurai Engineering College found that in each site the level was a thousand part of what international standards mandated.

The total pollution level from the entire ICT industry was only two per cent of the pollution in this country. As telecom industry forms less than half a per cent of the ICT total, the pollution from it alone could not be alarming, he contended.

Mobility being the major driver of communication in the country with wire lines very much limited, the cell phones were seen as having a disproportionate impact on pollution, Mr. Mathew contended.Another major reason was the extremely limited availability of spectrum in India as against the wider range allotted in the developed countries. This forced the Indian operators to install more cell sites to reach out to larger populations with lower allocation of spectrum.

Another cause was license requirements for a certain level of roll out of the service. “The operators have no choice but to make the best use of the lower spectrum resources” the COAI DG pointed out. However, the operators were now moving from passive infrastructure sharing to active infrastructure sharing. To reduce pollution, operators were using base stations that do not require air-conditioning. Diesel gensets were being substituted with hybrid ones. “We are aware of our responsibility” he stressed.

Batting for greater use of non-conventional energy sources in telecom energy scene, Dr. Bibek Bandyopadhyay, adviser , Ministry of new and renewable energy, detailed government support for these technologies. Though initial costs of solar panels was high, the life cycle costs were economic and new materials like titanium dioxide in place of highly pure silicon were being tried that would reduce costs significantly. “We are working out cost reduction techniques in use of renewable sources” he revealed.

Amit.g September 13, 2010 at 12:09 am

@Nikhil
Lol

Nikhil September 12, 2010 at 11:13 pm

VANEESH :
Don’t use vodafone and idea.it is injurious to health.it emitts high radiation.it cause to skin cancer.so please avoid idea and vodafone.

you better save your as* from these radiations or else you will be f***ed up …
Dumbass …

Amit.G September 12, 2010 at 8:54 pm

@VANEESH
But how cme u say tat Vodafone & idea’s radiation is injurious to health??? even other operators use 900/1800mhz band. have u got any equipment to measure radiation level??

VANEESH September 12, 2010 at 7:28 pm

@Bgeorge
Mrs george don’t act like a fool.scients said the radiation cause to cancer.

Bgeorge September 12, 2010 at 1:51 pm

@VANEESH
Which part of your skin has got cancer due to Radiation of Telecom tower?

VANEESH September 12, 2010 at 12:13 pm

Don’t use vodafone and idea.it is injurious to health.it emitts high radiation.it cause to skin cancer.so please avoid idea and vodafone.

AWARA September 12, 2010 at 7:34 am

@santu
Might Be He is Facing So Many Problems With AirTel, Idea And Vodafone

santu September 11, 2010 at 11:01 am

Kaushik Roy :

ashR :

ARJUN :YES THAT’S TRUE INDIA’S LARGEST 3 GSM OPERATORS I.E. AIRTEL VODAFONE ESSAR AND IDEA EMITS HIGH RADIATION THAN OTHER OPERATORS

kyu bhai ….tere aircel ke tower se radiation nhi niklti kya…..shayd aircel ke towers se fool(flowers) baraste h

SEEMS THESE 3 OPERATORS F—KED HIM PREETY BADLY

OR MAY BE HE IS TRYING TO BE THE NEXT MD OF AIRCEL.

Rudradeep Biswas September 11, 2010 at 9:46 am

WHO study on Environmental effect http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs304/en/index.html the link is shared on Indus Toweres’ website!

Kaushik Roy September 11, 2010 at 7:50 am

ashR :

ARJUN :YES THAT’S TRUE INDIA’S LARGEST 3 GSM OPERATORS I.E. AIRTEL VODAFONE ESSAR AND IDEA EMITS HIGH RADIATION THAN OTHER OPERATORS

kyu bhai ….tere aircel ke tower se radiation nhi niklti kya…..shayd aircel ke towers se fool(flowers) baraste h

SEEMS THESE 3 OPERATORS F—KED HIM PREETY BADLY

ARJUN September 11, 2010 at 5:43 am

@Amit.g
I Agree With u but one thing Operators have to Expand their Coverage By Setting Up their Towers on Land and one more thing birds and Honey Bees Stay on Top of The Roof So Govt of India Has Passed a strict Instruction on July 2010 For all Telecom Operators to avoid Building Towers on Top of Roof. New Telecom Operators Following These Rules but Old telecom Operators Throwing These rules in Air and they installing towers on Roof Which Is a Tremendous Damage to Human and as Well as Animal Life

Amit.g September 11, 2010 at 12:34 am

now operators should stop expanding coverage,atleast birds n bees can stay in forest areas

Agnivo September 11, 2010 at 12:01 am

Well, a tower has sufficient room for solar cells, and being placed above the ground level, has much better efficiency in generating electricity… so start it ASAP… maybe the initial costs will be higher!

rahul barik September 10, 2010 at 11:07 pm

mera area me mera bagal wala ghar ka chhad pe bsnl tower hai….. yeh install karne ke baad mera area me bohot sara loio ka cancer or tumor hua hai… evn mera bhi tumor hua hai. recently operatn hua. maine bsnl walo ko bola bt all in vain. plz i need hlp frm sm1… where vl i cmplain.. i lv in kolkata..tollygunge…

PDNair September 10, 2010 at 10:54 pm

All the private operators survive on logic of uninterrupted connectivity. Does anyone bother to check their tower emitting signal with high intensity ? The leading players, can not and will not pass the bench mark !

parag September 10, 2010 at 10:25 pm

the Indian govt. take initiative for that also allot needed spectrum for operators

Abhijit S September 10, 2010 at 10:14 pm

Well said!!
Each and every operator should think of this.

Keshav Jha September 10, 2010 at 8:47 pm

Stern steps should be taken on standards. We should not play with nature. For the balance of nature bees are also important. Radiation damages us also.

ashR September 10, 2010 at 8:47 pm