Govt to start own radiation testing laboratory

New Delhi: To reduce dependency on private laboratories for reports on radiation emitted from mobile phones and telecom equipment, the telecom department is in process to start its own radiation testing laboratory under telecommunication engineering centres from March 2012. Earlier, DoT adopted International Commission On Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection guidelines where it fixed Specific energy Absorption rate at 2 Watt per kilogramme in the frequency range of 10 MHz to 10 GHz for a mobile phone. For mobile phone towers, the new radiation norm issued by DoT also lowered limit of emission from telecom towers by one-tenth compared to earlier adopted levels. Under the new guidelines, emissions from telecom antenna mounted on mobile towers should be equivalent to frequency range in which the antenna operates and exposed area under the antenna is now 10 times larger compared to 200 square meter mentioned in earlier guidelines.