In some parts of the world, they are the most reliable or only phones available. In others, mobile phones are very popular because they allow people to maintain continuous communication without hampering freedom of movement. In many countries, over half the population already use mobile phones and the market is still growing rapidly. The industry predicts that there will be as many as 1.6 billion mobile phone subscribers worldwide in the year 2005. Because of this, increasing numbers of mobile base stations have had to be installed.
Base stations are low-powered radio antennae that communicate with users handsets.
In early 2000 there were about 20,000 base stations in operation the United Kingdom and about 82,000 cell sites in the United States, with each cell site holding one or more base stations. Given the immense numbers of users of mobile phones, even small adverse effects on health could have major public health implications. This fact sheet addresses these concerns. Several important considerations must be kept in mind when evaluating possible health effects of RF fields. One is the frequency of operation.