More than 13,000 Australians have sought and obtained site specific information regarding electromagnetic energy (EME) levels around base stations over the past 12 months from the Mobile Carriers Forum’s Radio Frequency National Site Archive (RFNSA).

The RFNSA public database www.rfnsa.com.au which was developed by the Mobile Carriers Forum (MCF) from 2001 provides a listing of more than 15,000 mobile base station sites.

Using a Guest Login, anyone with access to the internet can search for EME information for proposed new or upgraded mobile network facilities in their local area. Searches can be conducted by site name, suburb or postcode.

In the 12 months to June 30, 2009 an “EME Environmental Report” has been downloaded 13,544 times by the community providing information regarding the maximum EME level likely to be encountered in the neighbourhood of a mobile phone base station antenna. These levels are typically many hundreds of times below Australia’s EME Safety Standard.

Also in this period 1731 visitors from the community have been able to confirm a mobile network carrier/s’ EME compliance through downloading a “Site Compliance Certificate”. The Certificate is produced to verify the base station site meets the requirements of EME Safety standards.

MCF Program Manager Matt Evans welcomed this year’s figures as a demonstration of the continuing contribution of the RFNSA as a resource for the Australian community. “The mobile network carriers have a proud record of operating their mobile networks at precautionary power levels that are very significantly below national and international public health and safety limits. The industry remains committed to providing useful information about EME to the community consistent with a precautionary approach”, he said.