Cheap phones that spew high radiation

BANGALORE, INDIA: The new radiation norms set by the Department of Telecom (DoT) might change the way the phones are used in India. With cheap handsets flooding the market, price-conscious Indian population is naively lured to buying them. While many are unaware of the SAR levels, some give in to the immediate benefit of price, rather than worrying about the long term impact of radiation.



With the department of telecom limiting the amount of radiation a phone emits, some handset makers will either need to check the emission levels or face action.

Currently, India follows the European norms which reduced the SAR levels to 1.6 W/kg from 2 Watt/kg. SAR or specific absorption rate is the amount of radio waves absorbed by the body tissue when a phone is in use.

This means handsets of some reputed brands would pass the emission tests while some Indian branded or Chinese-made handsets would fail the test, unless they have a plan in place to deal with it.

CyberMedia analyst Tarun Patraj says that about 35-40 percent mobile market share is held by Indian brands and unbranded Chinese phones. Many of these vendors also rank among the top 15 sellers in India and their sales may be affected once the rule comes into force. "But, I hope they will come out with a new strategy," he feels.

The top Indian handset manufacturers include Micromax, Karbonn, Lava and unbranded China handsets are Sigmatel, Alfatel and BLepone.

According to an estimate by ICA — the industry body representing handset makers such as Nokia, Samsung and Motorola, about 3 - 3.5 million substandard mobile phones are imported into India each month.

A majority of cellphones manufactured by global handset manufacturers however pass the new SAR standard, but their share in mobile handset market is just 31 pc, according to 2011 figures and Samsung 15 per cent.

According to a study by Canada-based company Sarshield, many cellphones fail the latest SAR standards. The handsets are from Karbonn, Videocon, Lava and Micromax.

The list of phones whose radiation level exceeds the SAR specification of 1.6 W/kg.

Karbon Phones

Karbonn K3 (1.69)

Karbonn K7 (1.83)

Karbonn K9 (1.72)

Karbonn K111 (1.79)

Karbonn K330 (1.82)

Karbonn K445 (1.97)

Karbonn K451 (1.89)

Karbonn K541 (1.68)

Karbonn K1414 (1.88)

Lava Phones

Lava A9 (1.79)

Lava ARC05 (1.69)

Lava B5 (1.86)

Lemon IQ505 (1.82)

Micromax Phones

Maxx MX124 (1.77)

Micromax A50 Super phone Ninja (1.69)

Micromax A55 (1.71)

Micromax A60 (1.79)

Micromax A70 (1.89)

Micromax A75 (1.72)

Micromax A85 (1.69)

Videocon Phones

Videocon V1292 (1.86)

Videocon V1405 (1.89)

Videocon V1420 (1.81)

Videocon V1604 (1.97)

Videocon V1606 (1.87)

Videocon V1750 (1.92)

Videocon V7400 (1.86)

Videocon V7500 Zeus (1.79)