Press Releases

Lisbon, 16 January 2003 – Vodafone and the Institute of Telecommunications (IT) have today signed an agreement that will contribute towards better public information on issues concerned with electromagnetic radiation.

The initiative, the first of its kind in Portugal, is known as ITEM (Technical Information on exposure to Electromagnetic radiation in Mobile communications) and is designed to respond to the need to provide better information to the general public about the use of the electromagnetic spectrum and control of radiation levels.

The Institute of Telecommunications, whose aim is concerned with the generation and dissemination of information about telecommunications, will carry out the following activities under the ITEM project over the next three years on an independent basis: taking measurements in around four hundred locations alongside antennas installed by Vodafone in Portugal; establishing a network of remote measuring stations in a medium-sized city; maintaining a website publishing all the information compiled under the project, reports of measurements taken and providing continuous access to the results from the remote measurement network; and carrying out studies on the use of electromagnetic radiation emissions and control methods.

Vodafone and the IT, with the added credibility and independence that it brings to the project, aim to provide the public with the opportunity to obtain high-quality, independent and impartial scientific information on the issue of electromagnetic radiation.