Government notices to 12 telcos for violating BTS radiation norms

"Till November 30, 2012, a total of 83 number of BTSes (mobile towers) of various operators have been found to be non-compliant to the prescribed radiation norms. Notices have been issued to the concerned telecom service providers," Minister for Communications and IT Kapil Sibal informed the Lok Sabha.

According to rules, if a site (mobile tower) fails to meet the radiation norms then there is provision of levying a penalty of Rs. 5 lakh per BTS per service provider.

Details provided by the minister show that Bharti Airtel had 14 mobile towers, the maximum among operators, that were not complying with the new radiation norms, followed by Reliance Communications and Vodafone with 13 mobile towers each.

Tata Teleservices' 11 mobile towers, Aircel's 10, six each of Idea Cellular and Loop Mobile, Sistema Shyam's 2 and one mobile tower each of Videocon, S Tel (which has stopped operation in India) and state-run MTNL were found to be non- compliant with the new radiation norms.

The norms implemented from September 1, 2012 mandated operators to reduce radiation emission from telecom towers to 1/10th of the present level to mainly address concerns related to public health.

Among various other provisions, the new radiation norms call for minimum distance of a tower (with two antennas) at 35 meters from a residential building.