Milind Bengali: COO-Business Operations, GTL Infra Limited

Telecom industry has often been accused of damaging the environment with excessive use of diesel generators to run towers and causing radiation. The Government has recently set up a panel to study the harmful effects of radiation as well.

The tower major GTL Infrastructure Ltd. shared its views on what exactly are the issues resulting in a slow uptake of green energy in the telecom vertical.

Light Reading India spoke to the company's Chief Operating Officer (COO) for business operations to get insights on the issue. Here are the key highlights of our conversation:

Light Reading India: What are the major hurdles in adopting renewable energy options?

Milind Bengali: Telecom networks are contributing less than 2 percent of Indias total GHG footprint. For making large scale renewable energy solutions deployment, some of the key issues which would require to be addressed are: developing business engagement model of win-win among the members of eco-system, commercial viability, universal applicability, continuous availability, space constraints etc.

Light Reading India: Cellular Operators Association of India in a report has said that renewable power companies have raised doubts on the viability of green projects. What is your take on that?

Milind Bengali: A green power project has capex attached. Therefore, viability will greatly depend on right type of business model, wherein telecom operators users would be required to be forthcoming.

Light Reading India: Will the adoption of green solutions impact the revenue sheet of the company? If yes, then by how much?

Milind Bengali: Since there would be a capex involved in setting up the renewable energy, the solution should be able to give a decent return on investment. If we undertake the capital expense, then the revenue would not be impacted, but yes profitability and margins would be impacted.

Light Reading India: The Department of Telecommunications is intending to reduce the current exposure limit which is 9.2 watts/square meter to 0.45 watts per square meter. How will the company deal with it?

Milind Bengali: As such EMF radiation is the subject of active infrastructure that is of telecom operator. Telecom operators at some locations might have to explore deploying additional sites. This in our view, will not impact tower companies negatively.

Light Reading India: How many towers does GTL currently own and which operator is you biggest client?

Milind Bengali: GTL has over 32,000 towers spread across India with Aircel Ltd. being our major customer.

Light Reading India: Which are the companies with which you are in talks to implement green solutions?

Milind Bengali: We are continuously evaluating different technologies, and different vendors for the green energy solutions based on solar, wind, bio fuel, free cooling, etc. GTL Infra and other tower companies through TAIPA [Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association] have floated a pilot RFP [Request For Proposal] on RESCO [Renewable Energy Services Company] model, through which RESCO would deploy a green power solution for a tower or a group of towers within proximity a few metres and supply green energy on per KWH basis. Such multiple RESCOs will be identified based on their regional preferences.

Light Reading India: How has been the response of the operators in adopting renewable technology?

Milind Bengali: The telecom operators have shown a keen interest in adopting the renewable solutions, from reducing their operational expense on the diesel and also to reduce their own carbon footprint. In near future the telecom operators and tower companies would jointly discuss the way forward.

Light Reading India: Even with the launch of 3G and 4G, there are very few towers being coming up lately. What's your view on that?

Milind Bengali: Currently the operators are not in an expansion mode, given the uncertainty on the regulatory front. Hence the pace of expansion is very slow. But once there is enough clarity, the operators will again be in an expansion mode. We are bullish on the growth of the Indian telecom market in the long term.

Light Reading India: What has been the revenue of the company for the Fiscal Year 2011-12?

Milind Bengali: We reported a consolodated revenue of INR 13.9 billion ($0.24 billion) in the Fiscal.

Rimit Singh, Correspondent, Light Reading India