Handsets

O2 complies with the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) standards on exposure to radio frequency emissions from handsets.

We also adhere to a number of other Government and voluntary commitments.

This includes publicising SAR (specific absorption rate) values – a measure of the amount of radio wave energy absorbed by a person using a mobile.

All the handsets we sell, including TETRA handsets for our O2 Airwave services, comply with the relevant partial body (head and trunk) public exposure SAR limit of 2 watts per kilogramme.

SAR details for individual mobile phone models are available in stores in the UK and Germany and online:

• http://www.mmfai.org/
• http://www.izmf.de/
• http://www.o2online.de/
• http://www.de.o2.com/

SAR values are included in the UK sales brochures for customers, in the Partner Online System for sales partners in Germany, and in the user guides packed with all of our products.

The consumer protection association in North-Rhine Westfalia (Verbraucherzentrale Nordrhein-Westfalen) did some mystery shopping in our retail outlets. It showed that customers interested in SAR values of handsets could find quality information. However, it also found that our employees did not always give customers the available information.

We have also helped the industry to formulate advice to minimise the possible risk of repetitive strain injury (RSI) from the hand movements in text messaging.

In Germany, our booklet “Mobilfunk und Umwelt” was updated following recommendations from the consumer protection association in North-Rhine Westfalia, improving its rating in the association’s annual expert report to 12 points (out of a total of 15).

In March 2006 O2 recalled and replaced nearly 30,000 O2 X1 handsets, following three incidents of the model overheating while recharging. We asked our customers to return the phone, charger and battery immediately, in case of fire risk, and put a call bar on all O2 X1 handsets. Our actions were in line with our policies on the health and safety of customers and employees.