Page 654 - Shaping smarter and more sustainable cities - Striving for sustainable development goals

Annex 3

Summary of typical exposure levels
Typical exposures from mobile communication systems and other similar uses of radio signals are
summarized in Table 7 based on the results of a WHO workshop (Valberg et al., 2007).

Table 7 – Typical maximum exposures for a range of wireless services

Service ICNIRP reference level Typical maximum exposure

Average urban, base stations 41 to 61 V/m 0.1–0.3 V/m
Average urban, TV and radio 28 V/m 0.4–0.7 V/m
Wi‐Fi access point (20 cm) 61 V/m 3.9 V/m

DECT cordless phone (20 cm) 58 to 61 V/m 11.5 V/m
Baby monitors (20 cm) 28 to 61 V/m 8.5 V/m

Wireless technologies are based on international regulations and technical standards. There is little
variation in the level of exposure between countries as shown in analyses of base station
measurement surveys conducted internationally (Rowley et al., 2012) and in developing regions
such as Africa (Joyner et al., 2014). The global average reported from 173,000 measurement points
2
2
from 23 countries conducted from the year 2000 onwards was 0.073 μW/cm (730 μW/m ),
approximately 5,500 times (in power‐density and 74 in field‐strength) below the most restrictive
ICNIRP reference level for the public relevant to these mobile communication services of
2
2
400 μW/cm (4W/m ) at 800 MHz.
The ICNIRP reference levels are only likely to be approached in areas close to the transmitting
antennas as shown in Figure 23.

Source: From Figure 5, p. 20, of the Health Council of the Netherlands, 2000.

Figure 23 – Exposure levels near a GSM base station antenna with a radiating power of 20 W
transmitting at 900 MHz

644 ITU‐T's Technical Reports and Specifications