Independent cellsite monitoring

The companies are not informed when the monitoring will take place, and generally have no say in the sites selected for monitoring (although Spark may request monitoring of specific sites).

The purpose of the tests is to evaluate exposures to radiofrequency fields near cellsites to determine the maximum exposure at the time the measurements were made, and the maximum possible exposure should all the equipment at the site (and any other transmitters nearby) operate at full power. Exposures are compared against the appropriate limits in New Zealand Standard 2772.1:1999 Radiofrequency Fields Part 1: Maximum exposure levels 3 kHz – 300 GHz, as required by the Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Telecommunications Facilities) Regulations 2016.

These reports are provided on the Te Whatu Ora website to complement the other material on cellsites. For more information about the One NZ monitoring, see their website. For more information about the Spark monitoring, use the Contact Us page on their website.

How measurements are taken

Measurements are normally taken in public areas around a site (for example, on footpaths and parkland) but not on private property or in the middle of roads. The focus is on obtaining an overview of how exposures vary around a site, with special attention paid to the areas where exposures are expected to be highest.

The measurements are made with high quality instruments with a current calibration, following procedures recommended in relevant Standards.