Phone towers safe, firm says

 MOBILE phone transmission towers in residential areas will not cause cancer, headaches or migraines, a mobile phone service provider says.

Digicel PNG said recent measurement surveys showed exposure to base station radio signals ranged from 0.002 per cent to 2 per cent of the levels of international exposure guidelines, depending on a variety of factors like proximity to the antenna and the surrounding environment. 

The survey said that  was lower or comparable to RF exposure from radio or television broadcast transmitters.

Digicel was responding to a letter to the editor titled “Are Digicel towers safe in residential areas”.

The company said a  Global Systems for Mobile Association (GSMA) report on mobile communications and health report of 2012 said: “The consensus scientific view is that there are no health risks from living near a base station.” 

It said mobile phone base stations used low power radio transmitters to reduce interference to nearby sites. 

“It is only in areas close to the antennas that the recommended limits may be exceeded and the network operator prevents public access to these areas by placing the antennas near the top of a pole or high on a building.”