Muscat: The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) received 265 requests to build communications or mobile towers, an increase of three percent from last year, while 203 stations were upgraded with 5G services, an increase of seven percent over the same period last year.
Also, 44,555 housing units were connected to fiber optics through the completion of 23 projects in various governorates of the Sultanate of Oman, and schools covered by fixed broadband services reached 96 percent.
A regional workshop was recently organized by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority in cooperation with the International Telecommunication recently discussed achieving a balance between tower connections, their safety, and choosing tower locations in the Arab region.
The workshop sought to raise awareness about human exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) in line with international recommendations and standards, discuss the regulatory and legal requirements for establishing communications towers challenges, difficulties, and proposed solutions, and explain the impact of urban planning on communications infrastructure, Including communications towers.
The workshop highlighted national efforts in Arab countries and presented awareness initiatives to present practical ideas for measuring electromagnetic fields.
The workshop included several sessions and working papers in the electromagnetic fields sector, including the importance of evaluating and measuring levels of electromagnetic fields, which brings together experts to delve deeper into the necessity of developing guidelines and protocols for evaluating levels of electromagnetic fields, where participants will gain ideas about the challenges and opportunities associated with measuring levels of electromagnetic fields.
One of the sessions also addresses electromagnetic fields, health research, and future needs, as it reviews the limits of exposure to electromagnetic fields and compliance assessment standards that include the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and the International Committee on Electromagnetic Safety (ICES) of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The World Health Organization (WHO) international database on electromagnetic fields, ITU recommendations, and the need to harmonize EMF standards and activities of the Global System for Mobile Association (GSMA).
The workshop also includes a session reviewing the impact of urban planning on the telecommunications sector, the process of organizing telecommunications towers, a number of legal regulations related to the establishment of telecommunications towers, and addressing challenges and difficulties.
While no health effects are expected from exposure to radiofrequency (RF) fields from base stations and wireless networks, research is still being promoted by WHO to determine whether there are any health consequences from the higher RF exposures from mobile phones.
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