The telecom department on Monday said in a press statement that there is no link between 5G technology and spread of COVID-19 and they are urged not to be misguided by the false information and rumours spread in this matter. The claim that 5G trials or networks are causing coronavirus in India is “false” and have no scientific basis. Moreover, it is informed that the testing of the 5G network has not yet started anywhere in India. 

In the official release, it is mentioned that “Mobile towers emit non-ionizing Radio frequencies having very minuscule power and are incapable of causing any kind of damage to living cells including human beings” . Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has prescribed norms for exposure limit for the Radio Frequency Field (i.e. Base Station Emissions) which are 10 times more stringent than the safe limits prescribed by International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and recommended by WHO.

Informing the initiatives already taken, the DoT said it has a well-structured process so that operators strictly adhere to these prescribed norms.

“However, any citizen having any apprehension about any mobile tower emitting radio waves beyond the safe limit prescribed by the department, a request for EMF measurements/testing can be made on Tarang Sanchar portal at https://tarangsanchar.Gov.In/emfportal,” the department said.

According to circular,

There will be no change in the dialing plan from fixed to fixed, mobile to fixed, and mobile to mobile calls.

A suitable announcement will be made for the same. This announcement shall be played whenever a subscriber dials a fixed to mobile call without prefixing ‘0’.

 All fixed-line subscribers will be provided with a ‘0’ dialing facility.

A total of approximately 2539 million numbering series is expected to be generated from the above. This will free up sufficient numbering resources for future use.

The new rule follows a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) notification issued in May. Before this rule, the calls made from landlines to mobile phones outside a service area were to be prefixed with ‘0′, and all calls from landline to mobile within a service area could be made without the prefix.