INDIA: Call drops are a recurring problem for phone users and even Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, addressing a telecom conference over phone, became a victim. Experts blame lower spectrum availability and less telecom towers for this daily menace.

“There are call drops because signal levels are lower as we (India) have adopted a standard, which is one-tenth of international standard of radiation,” R.K. Arnold, member, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said at a session on “Mobile Telephony and Public Health” organised by Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) on the sidelines of the International Telecommunication Union-T SG5 meeting.

In India, the specified limit of radiation is one-tenth the global norms, while 90 percent of the countries follow the international limit. This is despite a recent Gujarat High Court verdict holding that base stations for wireless data and mobile communications pose no threat to health.

Arnold added that telecommunications is beneficial for socio-economic concerns, but now the increasing concern of people on electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation is superseding the social cause.

“We have to take a balanced view in this matter. We have to remove the fear from the minds of the people. We need to start an awareness campaign to achieve that. We have conducted various studies and TRAI have concluded recently that so far there is no such proof of health hazard from EMF radiation or otherwise,” he added.

The government is planning to work in this regard, an official said.

“The DoT (department of telecom) has directed TERM (Telecom Enforcement, Resource and Monitoring) cell across country to conduct workshops, interact with media and other steps to allay fear among general public on radiation from mobile towers,” TERM’s Deputy Director General for Kerala V Raghunandan said.

On the same note, Rajan S. Mathews, director general of COAI: “In India, we need two things – more spectrum and more mobile towers. That is the ideal combination.”

A combination of more towers and less spectrum is the root cause for poor connectivity.

Also Read:

Xiaomi May Face Major Setback In Overseas Market: Report

Indian-Americans Campaign Ahead Of Senate Vote On Vivek Murthy