Mobile technology has become part of our everyday lives.
More than 16 million Australians use mobile phones to communicate with their friends, family, and customers in a flexible way, at a time and place that suits them.
Mobile phones have become so popular that we need to keep upgrading and expanding our facilities to cope with the increased usage levels. Vodafone is committed to maintaining excellent coverage and top quality service, particularly in high usage areas. We need to look at ways to add additional network infrastructure, including additional base stations.
A base station is a low-powered radio transmitting and receiving station consisting of antennas and radio equipment. Base stations are a vital part of the mobile telecommunications network.
Vodafone takes a careful and considered approach in selecting locations for base stations. We are committed to providing a safe, reliable mobile communications network and, where possible, in an unobtrusive way. While most people welcome more mobile phone coverage, we recognise that some people are concerned about the possible health effects of base stations and we're committed to addressing these concerns.
New Base Stations
In evaluating locations for new base stations, Vodafone endeavours to select sites with the least environmental impact, focusing on industrial and commercial areas or existing buildings and structures. Sometimes the location of new base stations is greatly constrained by technical coverage requirements and the need to ensure all phone users have an excellent quality of service. In some cases facilities may be required within or in close proximity to residential areas.
In certain cases, a new base station may require local council consent through a development application. In these situations, the council decides the required level of public notification and requests community submissions. Upon review of community submissions, the local council decides whether or not to approve the application.
Under Australian telecommunications legislation, certain types of new base stations do not require local council approval. These types of base stations are generally referred to as 'low impact' facilities.
Vodafone notifies the community in respect to proposed low impact facilities. Vodafone reviews and considers any community submissions before deciding whether to proceed with the proposal. In some cases, Vodafone may alter or reconsider their deployment plans in light of community submissions.
A base station is a low-powered radio transmitting and receiving station consisting of antennas and radio equipment.
About 70 percent of Vodafone base stations are located on buildings or existing structures and the remaining 30 per cent are on towers. Base stations cover small areas and can handle only a limited number of simultaneous calls.
How Mobile Phone Technology Works
Mobile phones are sophisticated two-way radios that use radiofrequency (RF) signals to transmit and receive voice and data. When you make or receive a call, your mobile phone communicates with a network of low powered radio transceivers called base stations. Each base station covers a small geographic area, referred to as a "cell", and cells are interlinked to create the cellular network.
A mobile phone may communicate with several different base stations during a single call which makes it possible for you to continue your call while on the move.
The base station network is linked to the public telephone network so that mobile phone calls can be made to other networks, cities and countries around the world.
Radiofrequency Signals
For nearly a century, people have used RF signals from a variety of sources in a number of ways including television, radio, walkie-talkies and baby monitoring devices. Mobile phones and base stations transmit and receive such signals.
Importantly, RF signals and radio waves are entirely different from potentially harmful ionizing radiation such as x-rays and gamma rays. These rays are strictly controlled.
The World Health Organization, health authorities and governments around the world closely monitor the safety of radio technology and have cooperated to develop National and International guidelines to ensure RF signals used by mobile phones and mobile base stations do not pose any threat to users and the community.
Radiofrequency Levels Around Base Stations
Independent field monitoring of exposure levels around mobile phone base stations has been conducted since 1999 under the control of government agency, ARPANSA (Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency). Findings from the 2003 audit of 60 mobile base stations around Australia indicated: "On average the measurements showed that exposure levels at the location of the highest predicted level were 0.0021% of the Australian (ICNIRP) limits".
Research and Ongoing Monitoring
For more than five decades, scientists have studied the effects of energy carried by the RF signals used for radio and mobile communications.
Independent expert reviews of these studies conclude that, where mobile phones and base stations are operated within International guidelines, absorption of energy from mobile phones and base stations poses no threat to human health.
Independent bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) closely monitor the safety of radio technology. To date they have found no valid evidence that exposure from properly operating mobile phones or base stations pose a risk to human health.
Australia's own health authority, the Australian Radiation Protection & Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) states that "the weight of National and International scientific opinion is that there is no substantiated evidence that living near a mobile phone antenna causes adverse health effects."
Vodafone continues to monitor scientific research into mobile phone technology to ensure our equipment and services are safe.
For further information, please contact Vodafone's Community Relations Manager
Phone: (02) 9415 7179
Email: ememanagement.au@vodafone.com
