In line with its unwavering commitment to ensure the mobile telecommunications network operators compliance with the license terms related to the safety of radio frequency emissions as stated in Order no. (4) of 2009 of the Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife of the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority’s (TRA) initiated an exercise to measure the level of emissions produced by radio-communications stations of mobile telecommunication operators that have successfully launched 5G Services in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Using specialized equipment acquired by the TRA’s Spectrum Management Department, the measurements collected are compared to guidelines set forth by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection “ICNIRP” as detailed in the aforementioned Order. ICNIRP provides its recommendations, guidelines, and research results to the World Health Organization (WHO), which adopts these recommendations and guidelines as a basis for health regulations and notices concerning protection from electromagnetic field strength (EMF) Radiation.
“As per the condition stated in licenses granted by the TRA in Bahrain, telecoms operators are required to ensure that emissions from each radio installation are within ICNIRP limits. They are also required to comply with any future radiation emission standards set by ICNIRP, or have been or will be adopted by the Kingdom of Bahrain.” Says Eng. Mohamed Al Noaimi, Director of Technical Operations
Frequencies used for 5G are the same as previously used for WiMAX and some 4G Services that were introduced in Bahrain since 2007 and 2013 respectively. Over the past four years, TRA has measured more than 4,500 sites including the newly deployed 5G enabled radio sites; none of which have exceeded the limits and radiation standards of ICNIRP. Furthermore, the results of the measurements done on the 5G sites specifically showed that the maximum value observed was less than 1% of the maximum permissible threshold as indicated in ICNIRP guidelines.
Moreover, in January 2019, the historical measurements including WiMAX and 4G results (which is currently used for 5G) were shared with a delegation from WHO (World Health Organization). The delegation’s report was presented to The Council of Ministers in February 2019 where it showed that the level of the signals emitted by the telecom towers are well below the maximum permissible threshold set by ICNIRP.
All measurement results are available on TRA’s website for public viewing. The TRA invites the public visit this site to view the levels of radiating emissions measured in the different areas around the kingdom. These results reflect the number of measurements and not the number of towers.