Health information about cell towers & mobile phones

The Spark wireless network is fully compliant with international and national limits. These limits are based on decades of scientific research.

The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Protection (ICNIRP) is a scientific body that independently monitors the research and provides international guidelines on exposure limits to human health. The ICNIRP is recognised by the World Health Organisation for its independence and expertise in this area. The New Zealand radiofrequency field exposure Standard NZS2772.1:1999 follows the ICNIRP recommendations and is endorsed by the Ministry of Health³. A second standard, AS/NZS2772.1:1999, says how the exposures should be assessed.

The standards limit exposure to radio frequency to a level 50 times lower than that at which any adverse effects on humans have been observed⁴. The New Zealand Standard applies to the total exposure from all the different sources of radiofrequency fields to which someone is exposed. Spark’s policy is to comply with NZS 2772.1:1999. Based on our continuous and robust testing obligations, exposure levels from Spark’s cell towers are typically only a small fraction of the exposure limit.

As part of our obligations to comply with national limits, Spark has also commissioned independent monitoring of exposures to radiofrequency fields around our cell sites⁵. We aren’t informed when the monitoring will take place. We generally have no say in the sites that are selected for monitoring.

Read more about Spark's independent monitoring programme

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the New Zealand Ministry of Health, there's been no clear evidence from thousands of scientific studies that cell sites present risks to human health.

Read about electromagnetic fields from the World Health Organisation

Read about electromagnetic fields from the NZ Ministry of Health

The World Health Organisation notes the following:

“A large number of studies have been performed over the last two decades to assess whether mobile phones pose a potential health risk. To date, no adverse health effects have been established as being caused by mobile phone use.”

See the WHO fact sheet on EMF and health

Spark designs all its mobile cell transmitters to comply with National Environmental Standards for Telecommunications Facilities (NESTF). As noted above, limits on public exposures are set at levels more than 50 times lower than the recognised threshold for established effects. Based on our continuous and robust testing obligations, exposure levels from Spark’s cell towers are typically only a small fraction of the exposure limit.

In August 2019, the Ministry of Health noted that many countries use exposure limits similar to those in New Zealand. These countries include Australia, Canada, France and Germany. The Ministry notes that “an expert committee convened by the Environment-Brussels concluded that the research did not demonstrate any health effects below limits of the type used in New Zealand.”⁶

In addition, the conclusion from the Interagency Committee on the Health Effects of Non-ionising Fields wrote in the Report to Ministers from 2018 that the findings of recent research do not cause the Committee to consider that current polices and recommendations should be changed, and they continue to support the use of exposure limits for Radio Frequency fields (EMFs) set in the current New Zealand Standard.

Read more from the Interagency Committee

All Spark’s cell site infrastructure is designed to operate within national and international safety limits. These limits incorporate substantial safety margins.

Most scientific opinion, supported by the World Health Organisation, agrees there is no clear evidence from the thousands of scientific studies undertaken to date that mobile phones or cell sites present risks to human health. The New Zealand Ministry of Health concurs with this, saying that many reviews of the research have been done over the past few years, and that the reviews conclude that, overall, the results show that exposures which comply with current limits do not cause health effects⁶.

As demand for mobile services reaches capacity, Spark is investing in new “infill” cell sites to boost coverage and capacity. Each new cell tower will have new equipment. While this increases the emission levels on the actual site, the strength of the radio signals decays with distance from cell sites⁷.

5G is simply the fifth generation of mobile internet connectivity. Mobile phones in New Zealand are currently on either 3G or 4G. 5G will bring much greater data bandwidth and speed, as well as much faster response times than what are currently achievable. The greater speed and bandwidth will be possible because 5G will user higher frequencies which enable users to make faster wireless data transfers.  

In June 2019, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) noted⁸:
“Contrary to some claims, there are no established health effects from the radio waves that the 5G network uses. This network currently runs on radio waves similar to those used in the current 4G network, and in the future will use radio waves with higher frequencies. It is important to note that higher frequencies do not mean higher or more intense exposure. Higher frequency radio waves are already used in security screening units at airports, police radar guns to check speed, remote sensors and in medicine and these uses have been thoroughly tested and found to have no negative impacts on human health.”