The Kerala cell of Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring (TERM), under the Telecommunications Department, has given clean chit for mobile towers in the State in respect of compliance to radiation norms.
The Cell conducted physical testing and verification of over 7,000 Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) popularly known as cell-phone towers and all were found to be compliant with the latest radiation norms adopted by the department. There are over 35,000 BTS in Kerala and the stations for testing were selected to include all types of densely populated sites in urban, semi-urban and rural areas in the State.
Compliance is ensured for all the sites through various methodologies prescribed by the Telecom Department.
The TERM cells have the authority to deal with matters pertaining to electro magnetic field (EMF) radiation of the towers.
The Kerala cell based at Ernakulam with jurisdiction over Kerala and Lakshadweep is among more than 30 cells across the country.
The Union Government had adopted the International Commission for Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines in respect of monitoring of EMF radiation from cell phone towers.
The cell phone service providers are directed to report radiation levels through self certification which are verified by TERM cells, which carry out compliance monitoring on random basis for 10 per cent of towers.
If a site fails to meet the EMF radiation criterion, penalty of ₹10 lakh is levied on the service provider per BTS.
The limiting reference levels of radiation from mobile towers have been reduced to one-tenth of the limit prescribed by ICNIRP with effect from September 2012.
The ICNIRP radiation norms range from 4.5 watt per sq metre for 900 MHz to 10.5 watt per sq metre for 2,100 MHz.