Lok Sabha Question No. 241 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-12
Subject: Mobile Towers
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: R. GOPALAKRISHNAN

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 241 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12 th   DECEMBER, 2018

## MOBILE TOWERS

241. SHRI R. GOPALAKRISHNAN:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

(a) whether it is a fact that thousands of mobile towers are being added every year in the country;

(b) if  so,  the  details thereof along with the number of mobile towers added during the last three years, year-wise and State-wise;

(c) whether any regulatory mechanism is in place to check on the telecom companies in selecting the locations for their mobile towers so as to minimize the mobile radiations especially in residential areas; and

- (d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS & MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) & (b) During the last three years, aggregate  number of mobile towers has increased from about 4.21 lakh to 5.06 lakh, due to the addition of approximately 85,000 mobile towers across  the  country.  It  includes  different  types  of  tower  structures  including  ground-based towers/poles, roof-top based towers/poles, Cell-On-Wheels (CoW) etc.

As telecom licenses for mobile services are specific to License Service Area (LSA), the number of mobile towers added in each LSA since February 2017 is mentioned in Annexure-I.

(c) & (d) The  Department  of  Telecommunications  (DoT)  has  adopted  the  International Commission  on  Non-Ionizing  Radiation  Protection  (ICNIRP)  Guidelines,  as  recommended  by World Health Organisation (WHO), to limit electro-magnetic field (EMF) radiations from mobile towers within safety limits. Since 2011, these norms for exposure limits have been made more stringent  and  reduced  to  1/10 th of  the  existing  limits,  prescribed  by  ICNIRP.  Keeping  the precautionary EMF safe limits at this level eliminates the need for fixing lower limits for specific areas like schools, hospitals, residential premises etc.

As  per  extant  terms  &  conditions,  each  licensee  is  mandated  to  conduct  audit  and provide  self-certificate  in  each  case,  after  every  two  years,  for  compliance  of  limits/levels prescribed. This is subject to further technical audit by field units of DoT. Moreover, any person can request for EMF emission measurement at a location by paying a nominal fee of Rs. 4000/online. DoT field offices carry-out such testing, as requested, and provide the test-report.

Besides, DoT has also mandated Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) to be below ICNIRP's prescribed values so that the exposure from mobile handsets remains well within safety limits. All  mobile  handsets  manufactured  in the  country  or  imported from  abroad  are required to  be compliant to mandated SAR value.

| Sr.   | License Service Area     | Tower-count February 2017   | Tower-count February 2018   | Tower- count December 2018   | Additions since Feb 2017   |
|-------|--------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|------------------------------|----------------------------|
| 1     | Andhra Pradesh           | 33,988                      | 35,804                      | 39,680                       | 5,692                      |
| 2     | Assam                    | 9,984                       | 10,415                      | 11,444                       | 1,460                      |
| 3     | Bihar                    | 29,399                      | 31,921                      | 36,147                       | 6,748                      |
| 4     | Delhi                    | 18,559                      | 21,023                      | 24,096                       | 5,537                      |
| 5     | Gujarat                  | 25,587                      | 26,593                      | 29,275                       | 3,688                      |
| 6     | H.P.                     | 4,955                       | 5,049                       | 6,048                        | 1,093                      |
| 7     | Haryana                  | 9,685                       | 10,154                      | 11,782                       | 2,097                      |
| 8     | J & K                    | 7,559                       | 8,050                       | 9,037                        | 1,478                      |
| 9     | Karnataka                | 28,072                      | 28,085                      | 32,503                       | 4,431                      |
| 10    | Kolkata                  | 8,498                       | 10,030                      | 11,666                       | 3,168                      |
| 11    | Kerala                   | 15,705                      | 15,913                      | 16,588                       | 883                        |
| 12    | Mumbai                   | 14,189                      | 14,751                      | 14,944                       | 755                        |
| 13    | Maharashtra              | 35,701                      | 36,045                      | 38,242                       | 2,541                      |
| 14    | M.P.                     | 29,622                      | 31,368                      | 36,394                       | 6,772                      |
| 15    | North-East               | 6,211                       | 6,635                       | 7,185                        | 974                        |
| 16    | Odisha                   | 14,854                      | 15,636                      | 16,719                       | 1,865                      |
| 17    | Punjab                   | 17,334                      | 18,390                      | 19,628                       | 2,294                      |
| 18    | Rajasthan                | 23,654                      | 24,668                      | 27,691                       | 4,037                      |
| 19    | Tamil Nadu (inc Chennai) | 38,843                      | 38,573                      | 40,379                       | 1,536                      |
| 20    | Uttar Pradesh (E)        | 29,718                      | 29,910                      | 30,693                       | 975                        |
| 21    | Uttar Pradesh(W)         | 22,839                      | 24,107                      | 26,358                       | 3,519                      |
| 22    | West Bengal              | 17,224                      | 18,307                      | 20,247                       | 3,023                      |
| Total | Total                    | 4,42,180                    | 4,61,427                    | 5,06,746                     | 64,566                     |

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