Electromagnetic emissions from 4G and 5G base stations pose only minimal health risks, as they are far below the standards stipulated by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) and the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday.
Since the auction of 5G licenses two years ago, more than 35,000 5G base stations have been built across the nation, covering 94 percent of the population, NCC Commissioner Wang Cheng-chia (王正嘉) told a news conference.
However, some people are still worried about potential health risks, Wang said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Some base stations had been removed after protests by local residents, only to be reinstalled after the residents realized they could not receive phone signals, Wang said.
To allay public concern, the NCC tasked National Yunlin University of Science and Technology with conducting a study of electromagnetic emissions by 4G and 5G base stations, he said.
The study involved 34 sites in the north, south and east of Taiwan, as well as the outlying islands, that had 4G and 5G installations, said Kuo Wen-chung (郭文中), a professor of computer science and information engineering at the university.
“The sites were chosen because they accommodate devices and antennas installed by a majority of telecoms, and the results we obtained from the sites would best represent all base stations,” he said.
Researchers measured non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation (NIEA) based on the rules stipulated by the EPA, Kuo said.
“We found that the highest NIEA value detected was only about 0.039 percent of the reference values stipulated by the ICNIRP and the EPA, which are close to those of European countries and the US. The average of the highest values detected was 0.0125 percent of the reference values,” Kuo said.
The results show that a base station is even safer than a microwave oven and an electric razor, he said.
The commission said that 50,000 microcell stations are to be installed on utility poles and traffic lights to further boost 5G coverage.
Although the NCC has been running an awareness campaign for more than 10 years, it has not been particularly successful in assuaging public fears. Aside from public protests, the commission has only managed to secure 685 government properties on which to install base stations from 2014 to last year.
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