DoT to launch portal to disseminate information on mobile towers, signal strength

HYDERABAD: Close on the heels of attempts by some private mobile operators to provide information on mobile towers, the union telecom ministry is coming up with a portal that disseminates information on location and strength of mobile towers across the country. Titled Tarang Samachar, the portal will be launched soon, said a senior official of department of telecommunications (DoT) in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

Addressing an awareness program on electromagnetic emissions by mobile towers, RM Chaturvedi, Deputy Director General (Carrier Services) at DoT, said, “In order to bring in transparency about the number of mobile towers and the capacities in the country, the Centre will soon launch Tarang Samachar portal that will provide the citizens information about mobile towers in their vicinity.”

“It will also show whether a particular tower is compliant with the emission norms or not,” said Chaturvedi. Telecom service provider Airtel, too, had couple of weeks ago launched open network initiative to disseminate information about its towers number and strengths.

Over the last couple of weeks, a lot of commotion was created around mobile towers causing ill effects on human health including causing cancer. Chaturvedi said, “Current evidence does not confirm any correlation between health ailments and exposure to low-level electromagnetic fields.”

The department has already prescribed strict precautionary norms for Radio Frequency Field, which is ten times more stringent than the existing limits by the International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation protection (ICNIRP) and World Health Organisation (WHO), said a press release by the department.