‘Mobile tower radiation well within limits’

Manama  : Bahrain follows a policy, which is best in the world, when it comes to expanding telecommunication infrastructures and protecting public health, endorsed a top expert yesterday. 

GSMA expert Dr. Jack Rowley confirmed that there are no established health risks of living near a mobile network antenna, citing  conclusions of public health agencies around the world. 

“The health protection limits here are those recommended by the World Health Organisation, with the levels measured in public areas are very low relative to the limits,” he confirmed. 

Dr. Jack Rowley was speaking at an event held under the patronage of Kamal Ahmed, Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications by  the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). The forum held on 15 November 2016 at the Gulf Hotel Convention Centre in Manama focused on “the present and future of telecoms towers in the Kingdom. 

In his opening speech, Kamal Ahmed stressed the importance of  developing telecommunications infrastructure, which represents the backbone of digital society and economy that eventually lead to prosperity and economic growth in the Kingdom. 

The minister stressed that it is impossible to keep pace with the rapid and massive changes without developing telecommunications infrastructure that deliver ultra-fast broadband services. This in turn requires the deployment of mobile towers, he added.  

While confirming the need to comply with all technical, engineering, safety, and health standards and best practices when deploying radio communications towers, the minister, however, stressed that this shall not disrupt the ability of mobile operators to provide quality services in the Kingdom.

Commenting on the forum, TRA Chairman Dr. Mohamed Al Amer said, “International experts from GSMA the global association of mobile network operators shared their research on the subject, explaining how the mobile technology works, the related international standards and how safe it is to the public.” 

During the event, TRA  presented its future vision on the subject by shedding light on how through the new mast and towers regulation it will handle the approval and deployment of telecoms masts in the Kingdom.