Islamabad: 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 (BTSs)/Towers installed by mobile companies. The survey was carried out with the help of special tools/equipment in 11 cities across the country including Karachi, Hyderabad, Lahore, Faisalabad, Mirpur, Muzaffarabad, Peshawar, Abbotabad, Quetta, Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

The results of this survey showed that power level of all BTSs surveyed was much below the prescribed limits and in line with the policy directives of Ministry of Information Technology & Telecom and according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines. Therefore, the impression regarding hazardous effects of the towers has been proved incorrect and a misconception. The towers have been installed and are working within the specified parameters defined by Regulator as well as the international bodies concerning the issue.

This exercise was undertaken on the directions of the Chairman PTA, Dr. Mohammed Yaseen. It may be noted that PTA is cognizant of the issue and shall continuously monitor the working of the towers to ensure that the set standards are met and masses shall be updated accordingly.

Khurram A. Mehran

Director (PR)