Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) along with Frequency Allocation Board (FAB) has recently conducted an extensive survey in major cities of the country including Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) to check the omission of power level from transmitters and receivers of Base Transceiver Stations (BTS)/Towers installed by mobile companies.
The survey was carried out with the help of special tools/equipment in 7 cities across the country including Lahore, Karachi, Muzaffarabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The results revealed that power level of radio waves of all BTSs surveyed is much below the prescribed danger limits and in line with the policy directives of Ministry of IT & Telecom, World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines.
So far, PTA has conducted four nation-wide surveys since 2009. The results of all these surveys showed that the misconception regarding hazardous affects of the towers was not correct. The towers have been installed and are working within the specified parameters defined by the regulator as well as the international bodies concerning the issue.
It may be mentioned that, the current exercise was undertaken on the instructions of Chairman PTA, Dr Syed Ismail Shah. PTA is very much vigilant/cognisant of the issue directly related to the health of the general public and shall continuously monitor the working of the towers to ensure that set standards are followed.-PR