The best place to build base stations and minimise emissions is closest to where those services are required, the Mobile Carriers Forum, a division of AMTA, has told readers of the Illawarra Mercury newspaper.

Yesterday, the newspaper carried a page 10 report saying concerned parents at Wollongong West Public School are rallying against plans to build a base station 200 metres from the school’s boundary.

West Wollongong P & C president Kelly Judd said there were concerns about the emissions from the tower.

AMTA Chief Executive Officer, Chris Althaus, said that contrary to claims in the article, moving mobile phone base stations away from where they are needed will not necessarily reduce exposure to radiofrequency emissions.

“Well meaning advice to site base stations more than 500m away from a school is based on the mistaken belief that the further a base station is away from people the less they would be exposed to the radio wave emissions it uses to communicate,” he said.

“However, once a call is connected, both mobile phones and their base stations are designed to operate at the lowest levels to make a quality call. As a precautionary approach base stations are constantly adapting their output levels depending on the number of calls they are handling and how far away the handsets are from them.”

Mr Althaus said the further a base station was built from a school, it would need to operate at a higher power, which could actually increase exposures in that area – the very thing such approaches are trying to avoid.

However, the emissions would still be well below the strict safety limits, which are recognised by national and international health agencies.

“In most circumstances the best location to build base stations in order to minimise emissions, is closest to where those services are required,” he said.

“The mobiles industry has to balance the needs of Australia’s 24.22 million mobile phone subscribers with local community concerns about living and working near a base station. Without base stations, mobile phone coverage would be severely limited, which would greatly inconvenience all mobile phone users.”

The NSW Department of Education policy of having a 500-metre exclusion zone from schools is at odds with the NSW Government’s