India has worst radiation norms: report

India has worst radiation norms: report


Nikita

CNN-IBN

Mumbai: An Inter Ministerial Report submitted to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has recommended the cutting down of mobile phone tower radiation by one-tenth of the present level.

The 5.4 lakh mobile phone towers in the country pose a huge threat to the health of the citizens. Experts say that the amount of radiation emitted from these towers in a day, is equivalent to putting one's body in an oven for 19 minutes!

India has the worst cell phone tower radiation norms in the world. The upper limit is so high that within 2 years the health of 1 crore Indians could be affected.

But if the recommendations of the Inter Ministerial Report on cell phone tower radiation submitted to the Department of Telecommunications are accepted, then soon there will be stricter restrictions on towers being installed near high density residential areas and schools.

At present we follow the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNRIP) guidelines for radiation, which allow a radiation rate of 9.2 watt per sq meter to be emitted. The report recommends this level should come down by one-tenth. At the same time the report clearly states that the safe limit for our health is 1000 times less than even the recommended limit.

Experts, like Prof Girish Kumar, Head of Department for Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay who have been studying the harmful effects of radiation for three decades, aren't very optimistic.

“The number of people having health problems is more in the areas where radiation levels are high. We have adopted the worst radiation norm in the entire world,” said Prof Kumar.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has flagged off a large scale research project to examine the health impact of mobile tower radiation

“It is the largest study in country we will enroll 4500 people. This is a prospective study. Generally only one aspect is covered in such studies but we are covering all aspects and all disorders be it neurological, cancer, cardiac, ENT-related, reproductive, behavioral in this study,” informed Dr RS Sharma, Deputy DG, ICMR.

Meanwhile, The DoT has not set any time frame for responding to this report.

IBNLive : India has worst radiation norms: report :

http://ibnlive.in.com/printpage.php?id=142245§ion_id=3 10/02/2011

TRAI worried over diesel generators in cellphone towers

TRAI worried over diesel generators in cellphone towers



New Delhi, February 9, 2011  13:02

The much-celebrated mobile phone boom is taking a heavy toll on the country's environment. As much as 200 crore litres of diesel are burnt and thousands of tonnes of carbon emitted every year to power mobile telephony towers spread all over the country to keep you connected.

Waking up to this environmentally unfriendly side of the phone industry, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has initiated a consultation process to help the sector go green. India has around 3.1 lakh towers, of which 70 percent are located in rural areas where gridconnected electricity is not available. As a result, 60 percent of the towers are powered by diesel generators which produce a total of 5.3 million
litres of carbon dioxide every year.

The total carbon emission is estimated to be around 5 million tonnes due to diesel consumption and 8 million tonnes due to power grid connected towers. Telecom companies spend about Rs 300 crore every month on diesel.

Towers and related equipment such as base stations and backhaul equipment account for the bulk of the power consumption for any telecom operator. The tower sites consume 65 per cent energy, while the core network accounts for 21 per cent.

The use of renewable sources of energy such as solar and biomass, better network planning and sharing of infrastructure by different operators could substantially reduce the carbon footprint of the industry, TRAI has suggested in a consultation paper.

The move from diesel to solar and other alternate sources of energy will result in a reduction of 5 million tonnes of carbon emission as well as a savings of $1.4 billion (Rs 6,350 crore) in operating expenses for telecom tower companies, the paper says.

The regulator has suggested a system of carbon credits for the telecom sector. It says moving to renewable energy sources could generate millions of carbon credits that could offset operational costs on the towers.

However, environment action group Greenpeace feels that the approach suggested by the telecom regulator is flawed.
"In the absence of emission assessments and standards, the promotion of false solutions like carbon credit and offsetting is designed to retard the sector's inclination to undertake measures to mitigate emissions," said Mrinmoy Chattaraj of Greenpeace. Before initiating a carbon credit policy, telecom companies should be made to declare their greenhouse gas emissions.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/article/cell-phone-tower-carbon-emissions-worries-trai/1/129212.html

Its official, cell phone radiation is deadly

Its official, cell phone radiation is deadly


Thursday, February 3, 2011, 9:58 [IST]

New Delhi, Feb 3: There have been numerous rhetoric doing the  rounds on the ill-effects of mobile radiation for a while. The results are out and they are not pleasing at all. It has been found that radiation
from mobile towers pose grave health risks including memory loss, lack of concentration and digestive disturbances. The fact was revealed by an Inter-ministerial committee formed by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to study the hazards posed by mobile phones.

If the damages are not lethal for humans, its even worse for birds and insects as well. The committee has
attributed the radiation effects to the disappearance of butterflies, bees, insects and sparrows.
The eight-member committee, comprising representatives from the Health Ministry, Department of Biotechnology and Member Secretary, DoT. The committee found startling violations of radio frequency
levels according to international standards. They have recommended that mobile phones not complying to
standard levels of specific absorption rate (SAR) should be banned. SAR measures the he amount of radio
frequency energy absorbed by the body while using a phone.

"The localized SAR value as per the Indian guidelines standard is 2 watt per kg, averaged over a six
minute period and using a 10 gram average mass. With higher SAR values of mobile handsets the public
could potentially receive much higher radio frequency exposure. We have recommended that SAR levels
to be lowered down to 1.6 watt/kg, as prescribed by the Federal Communication Commission of US," a
committee member said.

The committee also recommended that mobile towers not be installed in highly populated residential
areas, schools, play areas and hospitals. The recommendations submitted by the committee will be used
to chalk out a national policy and better guidelines on electromagnetic frequency (EMF) radiation for
telecom towers.

The report also revealed the disturbing after-effects and said, “People who are chronically exposed to lowlevel wireless antenna emissions and users of mobile handsets have reported feeling several unspecific
symptoms during and after its use, ranging from burning and tingling sensation in the skin of the head,
fatigue, sleep disturbances, dizziness, lack of concentration, ringing in the ears, reaction time, loss of
memory, headache, disturbance in digestive system and heart palpitation.”

A member of the fact finding mission, Dr R S Sharma who is also an ICMR scientist said that the effects of
the radiation are deadlier in Indians when compared to Europeans due to their low body mass index and
low fat content. The tropical climate in India also aggravating the effect. The report pointed out that
children, adolescents and pregnant women could be at the maximum risk and recommends the use of
hands-free technology to lower physical contact with the body and the cell phone. "People having active
medical implants should keep their cellphone at least 30 cm away from the implant," it adds.

The children seem to be the worst hit with the extreme use of cell phones and according to Girish Kumar,
a professor in the Dept of Electrical Engineering at IIT Bombay claims, “"There is a 400% increase in the
risk of brain cancer among teenagers using cell phones for long periods. The younger the child, the deeper
is the penetration of electromagnetic radiation as children`s skulls are thinner.” Girish's findings were taken
into account by the government appointed committee.

Another study by the Jawaharlal Nehru University also pointed out the effects of radiation on male fertility
and how it effects the defence mechanism of cells.

The committee plans to submit the report so that the government can take some notable action on the
hidden hazards of radiation. "We have recommended amendment in the Indian Telegraph Act 1885 and
rules so that only mobile handsets satisfying radiation standards should be permitted in the country," R S
Sharma said.

This page was printed from: http://news.oneindia.in/2011/02/03/mobile-phone-radiation-pose-grave-healthrisks-

http://www.greynium.com/mail-print/print.php 10/02/2011

Telecom tower firms under pressure to scale up tenancy

Telecom tower firms under pressure to scale up tenancy

Several firms in India are targeting demand for towers to mount telecom radios on, as phone networks expand at a rapid pace to meet demand in areas never served by phone firms


New Delhi: The winding down of a small telecom towers firm from Gurgaon and last week’s buyout of an Indian tower start-up by American Tower Corp., a US company owning 23,700 towers worldwide, at a price close to what its costs to set up the physical assets are being seen by analysts as a sign that companies in the tower businesses are under pressure to scale up tenancy or face consolidation.

Several companies—some backed by big mobile phone services firms, and others, start-ups—in India are targeting demand for towers to mount telecom radios on, as phone networks expand at a rapid pace to meet demand in areas never served by phone firms. India, the world’s secondranked market by mobile phone users, is also the fastest growing by customer additions every month.

The raison d’etre for the business is simple: sharing of towers among phone firms reduces capital spending and helps in faster roll-out of networks. “The need for tower sharing will increase immensely in the current liquidity-credit crunch and economic downturn as companies slow down their capex plans, reduce leverage and conserve cash,” Siddharth Shah of Mumbai based brokerage Kotak Securities Ltd wrote in a report published last month.

Tower sharing among phone firms reduces capital spending and helps in faster roll-out of networks urgaon-based Independent Mobile Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd, a telecom tower company, is exiting the business after competition intensified in a crowded market, Mint reported on Wednesday. The company, which manages around 300 towers in 10 telecom circles, or licensed areas, plans to sell the infrastructure and cease operations, according to four persons belonging to the telecom industry, who did not want to be identified.

Just last week, American Tower announced its buyout of Xcel Telecom Pvt. Ltd that owned and ran 1,700 towers.

Analysts estimate India will need between 100,000 and 150,000 new towers added in the next two to three years, taking the total to more than 300,000 towers as the number of phone customers crosses the 500-million mark, up from the current almost 380 million. Despite that healthy outlook for towers demand, the key to be able to be firmly on the path to break even for tower firms, they say, is to increase tenancy on each tower to 1.5 to 2, up from the current 1.1. Tenancy is the ratio between the number of telecom operators using each tower.

“A tower sharing firm needs to have a 1.7 to 2 tenancy ratio to break even,” said Sudhir Gupta, vice-president, marketing, for India’s largest tower company Indus Towers, a three-way venture between phone firms Bharti Airtel Ltd, Vodafone Essar Ltd and Idea Cellular Ltd. Aiming for a return on equity of 15% may require a tenancy of greater than two, G.V. Giri, an analyst at the institutional equities division of India
Infoline Ltd wrote in a report published in October last year.

Indus Towers, reckoned to be the biggest in the business, has close to 96,000 towers at present. Even with the business it gets from the likes of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular, Gupta says the firm is at least a year away from a 1.7 tenancy; by March 2010, it will have between 115,000 and 120,000 towers.

Typically, the cost of setting up a tower is about $66,000 or Rs33 lakh, Sunil Kanoria, vice-chairman and managing director of Quippo Infrastructure Equipment Ltd said in January. The cost can vary depending on factors such as location, height and extent of power back-up. This does not include the cost of the electronics (called base transceiver station) or recurring costs such as rent for the premises it is mounted on.

So, for Quippo, which recently announced a merger with a tower unit of phone firm Tata Teleservices Ltd, its target of 50,000 towers by 2012 will translate into a capital spending of Rs16,500 crore.

Capital expenditure at other firms such as GTL Infrastructure Ltd, which is eyeing 25,000 towers by 2011, or Essar Telecom Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd will also be relatively high.

Delays in a new crop of telecom aspirants starting services means it will take longer than planned to recover these investments. Companies such as Swan Telecom Pvt. Ltd, Unitech Wireless Ltd and Loop Telecom Pvt. Ltd, have received telecom licences and spectrum allocations, but are yet to finalize tower sharing pacts with the tower firms. Still, when they do, their decisions are expected to be a boost to the towers business. The new phone firms need to rollout their services in at least 10% of the districts in a circle, or telecom service area they have a licence to, within the first year of getting a licence, and 50% of the districts within
three years, according to the roll out obligations given in the licence agreement.

Another quarter where fresh demand could come from is when at least two of India’s phone firms running CDMA (code division multiple access)-based networks shift to a rival standard (GSM), an industry executive said. “With them launching pan-India GSM services, the demand for towers goes up as GSM services need more towers as compared to CDMA,” this executive with a leading telecom firm, who did not want to identified, said.

Mandatory solar for Indian mobile phone towers

Mandatory solar for Indian mobile phone towers


22. OCTOBER 2010
TOP NEWS, POLITICS & SOCIETY, MARKETS & TRENDS
BY: SHAMSIAH ALIOETTINGER

The Indian government will ensure that it is mandatory for mobile

phone towers in India to be powered by solar energy.

The MNRE is pushing forth with more changes towards sustainable energy usage Image: Ministry of

New and Renewable Energy

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has decided on this move in the hope of cutting down pollution from diesel consumption in the country. Even though this move will mean that the construction costs for the mobile phone service providers like Vodafone, Bharti and Reliance communications will see a steep increase of approximately 50 percent, the MNRE stands by its decision. Diesel is the fuel of choice at the moment in powering the 350,000 mobile phone towers across India at the moment.

“We are working on a new scheme that will support adoption of greener practices by telecos while rolling out their services for customers,” secretary with the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE), Deepak Gupta, told India's Economic Times.

Gupta also said that a test project is being carried out on 600 towers and be in operation by the second half of 2011. The feedback of this test project will see the further developments and funding of the scheme. Each tower is expected to cost about Indian Rupees 40 Lakhs or around 65,000 Euros. The additional solar panel installation will cost about INR16 Lakhs or approximately €25,870.

Capital support may be minimum for this scheme but the government may offer soft loans to companies under the refinancing schemes of the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency. Under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, the aim is to increase solar power capacity in India.

TOWERS ON SCHOOLS RAISE CONCERN

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=pastissues2&BaseHref=TOIM/2011/02/04&PageLabel=6&EntityId=Ar00604&ViewMode=HTML

TOWERS ON SCHOOLS RAISE CONCERN


Anahita Mukherji
TNN

Mumbai: Cell phone towers perched atop school buildings are causing intense bouts of anxiety amongst parents and teachers alike after a central government committee concluded that radiation from these towers can cause serious ailments.

In recent years, a whole array of schools, ranging from those run by the state to those sporting the “international” tag, have allowed mobile towers to be erected on their rooftops.

Teachers at GM International School, Goregaon, complain there are up to 15 mobile towers on the school premises. The school authorities, though, differ. “We don’t have mobile towers on campus, but mobile poles that connect one line with the next,” said Gunita Malhotra, a trustee of the school. “The government has tested the radiation emitted by the poles and found it within permissible limits.”

Girish Kumar, a professor in the electrical engineering department of IIT-Bombay, calls these “permissible limits” pathetic. “Our studies have shown that one thousandth of the radiation prescribed by the government causes severe health hazards,” said Kumar.

In another instance, a mobile tower has existed at the Central Railway Employees High School in Parel for at least three years, without anyone knowing how it got there. Even the principal, Madhuri Hatekar, was unaware of its existence until alerted by the youth wing of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.

“This is wrong. We are worried about our children. Such towers should not be put up in a school,” said a parent.

The tower also caught CR officials by surprise. “A digital communications firm called Tikona approached Railtel, a PSU owned by the railways, for permission to set up mobile towers. In 2008, the railways gave the firm consent to set up a tower at Apprentice Mechanical Building in Parel. No consent was given to set up the tower on the school,” said Vidyadhar Malegaonkar, chief spokesperson, CR. Sources say the Apprentice Mechanical Hostel and the school are housed in the same building.

Radiation info on cell packs?

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=pastissues2&BaseHref=TOIM/2011/02/04&PageLabel=18&EntityId=Ar01701&ViewMode=HTML

TIME TO TAKE A CALL

Radiation info on cell packs?

. 5 L Fine On Firms Flouting Tower Emission Norms

Durgesh Nandan Jha TNN 

New Delhi: The department of telecommunications is planning to issue directions asking mobile companies to prominently display on the pack the level of radio frequency energy absorbed by the handset, minister of state for telecommunications and information technology Sachin Pilot said on Thursday. He added that the government is going to launch a nationwide crackdown on companies that have been flouting guidelines on electromagnetic emissions from mobile towers and failing to self-certify them. The firms will be fined Rs 5 lakh for each non-compliant base station. 
    “In my view, people buying phones have the right to know the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) level of a particular product… given the health hazards that some phones with high SAR levels can cause. We have asked all stakeholders—mobile manufacturers, citizen groups and NGOs—to give their response by February 25 and based on that we will issue directions for display of SAR level,” said Pilot. More than 90% of people do not know about SAR level. It is usually a part of the user manual, which in wrapped inside the packets or put on the website of the company. 
    Pilot said over one lakh Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) mounted on mobile towers have failed to self-certify as per standards prescribed by the International Commission for non-ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). “They failed to meet two deadlines for self-certification. Now, we are going to penalize them,” he said. 
    In a recent report, an inter-ministerial committeehas found that high SAR levels of a handset cause health hazards like loss of memory, lack of concentration, disturbance in the digestive system and sleep. 
    The committee suggested that the radiation limits need to be lowered to 1/10th of the existing level. The recommendations have been put on the DoT website for response from stakeholders, citizen groups and NGOs and a decision in this regard will be taken soon, Pilot said. The minister added that the department is strengthening Telecom Engineering and Resource Monitoring Cells (TERM) to ensure effective monitoring of mobile towers.