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The radiation from cell phone towers are ‘non-ionizing’ and are completely harmless to the avian population, according to A Siva Prakash Rao, Indus Towers Ltd (ITL) Circle CEO, Tamil Nadu.
He said the three key promoters of the company – Bharti Infratel, which is a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel Ltd, Vodafone India and Aditya Birla group company Idea Cellular – had been discussing the idea of taking the company public but no final decision has been taken in this regard.
‘Harmless radiation’Speaking to Business Line on the sidelines of a news conference in Coimbatore on Wednesday about concerns over threat to migratory bird population from radiation emitted from cell phone towers, Rao said there were two types of radiation – ionizing and non-ionizing radiation. The radiation emitted by the telecom towers were characterised as ‘non-ionizing’ and this does not have the strength to displace the ions in the body, he said.
Rao said that according to news reports, the population of migratory birds was going up ‘tremendously’ in the country and cited popular migratory bird sanctuaries such as Pulicat Lake, Rann of Kutch, Vedanthangal etc to support his view. Even the parliamentary committee that went to the cell tower radiation issue has not come out with any definite conclusions. He said, “As of now, there is no conclusive evidence.”
“We had similar apprehensions when television sets and microwave ovens were introduced decades ago, but these turned out to be completely unfounded,” Rao said.
Shareholding patternAsked about the shareholding patterns of Indus Towers and whether they planned to take the company public, Rao said Bharti Infratel and Vodafone India each had 42 per cent share in Indus Towers Ltd and the balance was held by Idea Cellular.
In the current fiscal, the company installed 200 towers in Tamil Nadu and an equal number is planned for the next fiscal.
On whether there was any plan to take ITL public, he said, “It has to be decided by the board” and declined to elaborate.
He said the company has plans to increase its market share from the current 52 per cent in Tamil Nadu by expanding its tower network in a phased manner. All over India, the company has more than 1.15 lakh telecom towers.
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