Awais

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari Tuesday urged telecom operators to develop and deploy internationally-accepted processes to ensure public safety risked by radiation exposure to telecom towers and antennas installed within the thickly populated areas.

He said the government understood the public concern regarding health hazards posed by mushrooming telecom infrastructure and steps were already afoot to minimize any health risks posed by telecom towers and antennas installed within the thickly populated areas.

The minister was delivering a keynote address to a national seminar on ’Cellular infrastructure: a socially responsible approach’ at a hotel in Lahore. The seminar was attended by a large number of leading telecom experts representing a broad spectrum of the telecom industry.

Leghari said the cellular and WLL operators were investing heavily into expansion of the infrastructure with a focus on the establishment of base station antenna/towers. "As this growth continues, the total number of cellular mobile and WLL base stations in the country was also expected to reach a figure of 10,000 during 2006," he said.

He noted that while the development of cellular infrastructure was a key indicator of the growth of our telecom industry, there were some public concerns and negative perceptions relating to base station towers and also with cell phones themselves. "The concerns about environmental, physical and public health related hazards of cellular base stations in the country have also been raised at the level of the cabinet and in public for a as well," he said.

He disclosed that his ministry in consultation with all stakeholders and relevant ministries, had conducted an extensive study to analyze the extent of radiation hazards from the base stations in light of international research and recommendations of standards bodies like American National Standards Institute/ Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (ANSI/IEEE) and the International Council for Non Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).

He said while bulk of the research was inconclusive, the finding of some research studies indicating probability of some negative effects mainly on human well being, had led the international standard bodies to recommend precautionary approaches and set conservative limits for exposure to radiation.

He said the government following consultation with the stakeholders and industry, had decided to adopt as national policy standards the guidelines of international bodies. "These guidelines set conservative limits on public and occupational exposure resulting from radiation due to base station antennas," he said.

Awais said Pakistan Telecommunication Authority had been given the responsibility to ensure compliance with these national safety guidelines. "PTA will also ensure that radiation related information on towers and BTSs is posted on its website, is readily accessible, easily interpretable by members of the public and kept up-to-date," he said.

He said the government was determined to keep its policy support to the sector to ensure the consumers would get best service and education on issues impacting their overall wellbeing. "Our aim is to use technology to achieve the ultimate purpose of empowering masses though improved opportunities and better quality of life," he said. He urged telecom companies, especially mobile phone operators, to act as socially corporate players and educate the public about the issues and negative perceptions related to the growth of cellular telephony and infrastructure.

He believed that financial impact of these guidelines and standards on operators would be minimal in terms of relocations required. "It is estimated that only about 3 per cent of antenna sites currently commissioned will have to redesigned or improved," he said.

He also called on the mobile phone operators to resort to added promotional material, antenna site caution signs and publicity campaigns to educate the public on the issue, adding his ministry in collaboration with the industry would also devise and execute a well structured media campaign to educate the public.