Lok Sabha Question No. 1810 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-12-09
Subject: Policy for Setting up of Mobile Towers
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: K. GOPAL, BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB, PONGULETI SRINIVASA REDDY, BHANU PRATAP SINGH VERMA, SATISH CHANDRA DUBEY, RAKSHA NIKHIL KHADSE, SANJAY SHAMRAO DHOTRE, SRIRAM MALYADRI, DILIP KUMAR MANSUKHLAL GANDHI, BHAGWANTH KHUBA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1810

TO BE ANSWERED ON 9 th  DECEMBER, 2015

## POLICY FOR SETTING UP OF MOBILE TOWERS

## 1810.  DR. K. GOPAL:

SHRI BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB:

SHRI PONGULETI SRINIVASA REDDY:

SHRI BHANU PRATAP SINGH VERMA:

SHRI SATISH CHANDRA DUBEY:

SHRIMATI RAKSHATAI KHADSE:

SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE:

SHRI MALYADRI SRIRAM:

SHRI DILIPKUMAR MANSUKHLAL GANDHI:

## SHRI BHAGWANTH KHUBA:

Will  the  Minister  of  COMMUNICATIONS  AND  INFORMATION  TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a) the  number  of  new  cell  towers  installed  in  the  country  during  each  of  the  last three years and the current year, State/UT-wise;
- (b) the number of such new towers installed in parks and other public places across the country during the said period, State/UT-wise;
- (c) whether the  Government has framed statutory  telecom  infrastructure  policy  for setting up of the mobile towers in the country;
- (d) if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  if  not,  is  there  any  proposal  to  frame  statutory guidelines concerning clearance for installation of mobile towers and removal of illegal ones;
- (e) whether the Government is aware of the studies conducted by Guru Nanak Dev University  and  Jawaharlal  Nehru  University  on  the  impact  of  radiation  from  mobile towers and mobile phone on human health and male fertility and if so, the reaction of the Government thereon; and
- (f) action taken/proposed to be taken to remove illegal towers which have been set up without permission in view of the hazards to the people living in the vicinity of mobile towers and the flora/fauna?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

- (a) Madam, the telecom licenses are issued Licensed Service Area (LSA) wise and accordingly the information about number of mobile Base Transmitting Stations (BTSs) setup at mobile towers, during each of the last three years and current year as on 3009-2015, is maintained LSA-wise and provided as Annexure-A .
- (b) BTSs are established by the telecom service providers/ infrastructure providers at suitable  locations,  as  per  their  Radio  Frequency  (RF)  Network  Planning  for  proper coverage of the area and as per their service requirement to fulfil the license conditions. Prior  to  installation  of  mobile  towers,  the  Telecom  Service  Providers  (TSPs)  have  to obtain  necessary  clearances  from  concerned  local  authorities  such  as  municipal corporation,  Gram Panchayat etc also. Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued advisory guidelines to state governments on 01.08.2013 for issue of clearance for installation of mobile towers. These guidelines to State Governments do not place

any restriction on installation of mobile towers in parks and other public buildings/places. Accordingly,  DoT  does  not  maintain  information  regarding  number  of  mobile  towers installed in parks and other public places.

(c) & (d) To support the faster growth of telecom infrastructure including mobile tower, DoT  has  created  a  separate  registration  category  known  as  Infrastructure  Providers Category-I  (IP-I).  The  IP-I  registered  companies  are  permitted  to  create  passive infrastructure  such  as  tower,  dark  fibre,  duct  space  etc.  and  provide  the  same  to licensed telecom service providers.

With a view to facilitate formulation of uniform policies across various states, DoT has issued guidelines for clearance of installation of mobile towers to Chief Secretaries of  all  the  states.  These  were  finalized  after  careful  consideration  of  views  of  all stakeholders including State Government and Civil society, keeping in view the need to maintain  the  present  momentum  of  telecom  growth  while  addressing  the  public concerns about safety and human health. These guidelines, inter-alia, deals with fixation of  standards  for  exposure  limits  of  radio  frequency  field  emissions  from  mobile  base stations,  monitoring  their  compliance,  documents  to  be  submitted  by  telecom  service providers  to  the  local  bodies,  provision  of  single  window  clearance  and  setting  up  of telecom committees for public grievance redressal.

(e) Government on 24.08.2010 has constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) consisting of officers from Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Indian Council of Medical  Research  (Ministry  of  Health),  Department  of  Biotechnology  and  Ministry  of Environment  and  Forest  to  examine  the  effect  of  Electro  Magnetic  Field  (EMF) Radiation from base stations and mobile phones. In its report, the committee has, interalia, referred to studies conducted by Jawaharlal Nehru University and Guru Nanak Dev University,  Amritsar.  The  Inter-Ministerial  Committee  (IMC)  in  its  report,  has  also examined  various  national  and  international  studies  on  the  environmental  and  health related concerns due to EMF and has indicated that most of the laboratory studies were unable to find a direct link between exposure to radio frequency radiation and health; and  the  scientific  studies  as  yet  have  not  been  able  to  confirm  a  cause  and  effect relationship between radio frequency radiation and health.

Further, World Health Organization (WHO) has referred to approximately 25,000 studies,  conducted  around  the  world  over  past  30  years,  and  based  on  an  in-depth review  of  scientific  literature,  has  concluded:  'current  evidence  does  not  confirm  the existence  of  any  health  consequences  from  exposure  to  low  level  electromagnetic fields'. Since the effects on human beings are to be studied over a long period of time, further studies are going on around the world.

Several  High  Courts  viz  Hon'ble  High  Courts  of  Punjab  &  Haryana,  Madras, Kerala, Gujarat, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Allahabad in the court cases related to issue of effects of the radiation from cell phone towers have given judgements whereby they have dismissed petitions, where the mobile tower installations were challenged on grounds of health effects of EMF radiations.

In  a  Writ  Petition  filed  in  Hon'ble  High  Court  Allahabad,  Lucknow  bench,  the Hon'ble  Court  constituted  a  committee  including  Members  from  Indian  Institute  of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, Kanpur, Delhi, Roorkee, Bombay and from other scientific institutions of the country including Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) Delhi who  submitted its Report on 17.01.2014.  The  Committee  observed  that  the  Department  of  Telecom  has  taken adequate  steps  to  impose  stricter  precautionary  limits  for  EMF  radiation  from  mobile towers as well as from mobile handset/phones. After due consideration of the human health concerns on account of EMF radiation being raised in public and the Report of the  Committee,  the  Government  has  decided  in  February  2014  that  the  present prescribed precautionary EMF safe exposure limits are adequate and need no further change at this stage.

## Contd…….3/-

(f) Regarding health hazard concerns from mobile towers, the main conclusion from the  WHO  reviews  is  that  EMF  exposures  below  the  limits  recommended  in  the International  Commission on Non Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) international guidelines  do  not  appear  to  have  any  known  consequence  on  health.  If  the  EMF radiations from mobile tower(s) are below the prescribed limits, such mobile towers do not  pose  any  health  risk.    In  India  norms  for  exposure  limit  for  the  Radio  Frequency Field (Base Station Emissions) are already 10 times more stringent than the safe limits prescribed by ICNIRP and recommended by WHO.

In order to ensure compliance to the prescribed stricter precautionary norms of EMF  radiation  from  mobile  towers,  the  extensive  audit  of self-certificates  being submitted  by  telecom  service  providers  and  base  transceiver  station  (BTS)  sites  is carried out by Telecom Enforcement Resource & Monitoring (TERM) field units of DoT. Additionally, the BTS sites against which there are public complaints are also tested by TERM Cell. All new BTS sites start radiating commercially only after self certificate has been submitted to relevant TERM Cells. In case, any BTS site is found to violate the prescribed EMF norms, actions are taken to put a penalty of Rs. 10 lakh per BTS per incidence including closing of BTS site, if the violation persists.

Annexure- A :  Number of mobile Base Transceiver Station (BTS) setup in the country License Service Area wise

| Sl. No.   | License Service Area (LSA)      |   As on 31.03.2013 |   As on 31.03.2014 |   As on 31.03.2015 |   As on 30.09.2015 |
|-----------|---------------------------------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|
| 1         | ANDHRA PRADESH                  |              57941 |              64710 |              68993 |              71442 |
| 2         | ASSAM                           |              13466 |              14539 |              16153 |              17236 |
| 3         | BIHAR                           |              43609 |              43888 |              47459 |              48954 |
| 4         | DELHI                           |              33686 |              37961 |              42033 |              42618 |
| 5         | GUJARAT                         |              45524 |              49045 |              53021 |              55123 |
| 6         | HARYANA                         |              17105 |              18428 |              20650 |              22203 |
| 7         | HIMACHAL PRADESH                |               6848 |               7508 |               8049 |               8830 |
| 8         | JAMMU AND KASHMIR               |              10681 |              11930 |              12380 |              13179 |
| 9         | KARNATAKA                       |              50807 |              55981 |              61566 |              64116 |
| 10        | KERALA                          |              31037 |              35124 |              35949 |              38331 |
| 11        | KOLKATA                         |              19268 |              19710 |              21404 |              24093 |
| 12        | MADHYA PRADESH                  |              46476 |              47678 |              49129 |              51414 |
| 13        | MAHARASHTRA (EXCLUDING MUMBAI)  |              62533 |              67295 |              74344 |              76924 |
| 14        | MUMBAI                          |              30741 |              33156 |              32621 |              33291 |
| 15        | NORTH EAST                      |               8659 |               9278 |              10064 |              10842 |
| 16        | ODISHA                          |              19799 |              21020 |              22318 |              23360 |
| 17        | PUNJAB                          |              25965 |              27457 |              31146 |              33241 |
| 18        | RAJASTHAN                       |              35953 |              38257 |              41787 |              43681 |
| 19        | TAMILNADU (INCLUDING CHENNAI)   |              61393 |              69036 |              77844 |              81974 |
| 20        | UTTAR PRADESH (EAST)            |              78366 |              52875 |              53799 |              55347 |
| 21        | UTTAR PRADESH (WEST)            |              78366 |              39746 |              40026 |              45379 |
| 22        | WEST BENGAL (EXCLUDING KOLKATA) |              29294 |              29804 |              32915 |              35534 |
| Total     |                                 |             729151 |             794426 |             853650 |             897112 |

Source:  Data  submitted  by  Telecom  Service  Providers  to  Telecom  Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

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