Green Telecom: The Way Forward

Like every growth story, Indias successful telecom run has also been marred with challenges. While the incredible mobile phone subscriber growth and innovative services have helped in creating new opportunities, they have also led to significant environmental concerns. In order to meet their expansion plans and to power their growing infrastructure, operators' demand for energy usage has grown tremendously.

Since no significant initiatives have been taken to develop renewable power solutions, operators had to resort to diesel gensets (generator sets) for their power requirements.

The estimates by Greenpeace show that operators require over 14 billion units of electricity annually to meet the demand of their growing network infrastructure.

Greenpeace says that the usage causes 5.2 million tons of carbon-dioxide emissions annually, responsible for over 2 percent of the countrys total GHGs (greenhouse gas) emissions. Various other studies also indicate that cellphone towers are a cause of cancer, thus posing a threat to the society. The government and cellular operators, however, are mum on the issue.(See Environics Plans Big In Anti-Radiation)

Moreover, there is this diesel subsidy support given by the government to telecom service providers which makes the situation even more painful. The Telecom Equipment Management Association (TEMA) estimates that telecom towers get close to INR 43 billion of diesel subsidies annually which translates to massive losses to the exchequer. Experts also believe that significant dependency on diesel will always keep the fuel prices high, and hence might put the economy in a vulnerable position.

Missed Deadlines
In a directive issued in November 2011, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had said that 50 percent of rural towers and 20 percent of urban towers should run on hybrid power by 2015. And by 2020, it expects 75 percent of rural towers and 33 percent of urban towers to become environment friendly. This, however, looks highly unlikely.

The industry also has been raising questions on the methodology set by the regulatory body to measure carbon emission from towers. The DoT had earlier set April 1, 2012 as the implementation deadline, which was later pushed to September 1.

The DoT has also asked telecom operators to reduce carbon emissions occurring from their mobile networks by 5 percent by end of this financial year and by 17 percent by 2018-19. The operators, however, have asked the government for more time.

"We need to identify the best possible measures to address the issues. The current deadlines, with certain clauses, are very tough to meet. Meanwhile, Taipa [Tower & Infrastructure Providers Association] has identified some names and has sent a request for proposal [RFP] to renewable energy producers to buy renewable energy solutions to support around one lakh towers," states Rajan S Mathews, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India. He did not share the timeline and other details.

Allegations have also been made by several industry experts that neither the government nor operators are serious about implementation of green initiatives. "There has been a consistent dilly-delaying from the operators side to take necessary initiatives in this direction. In all probability, this deadline will be missed too. The operators are raising same issues again and again. Then what is the purpose of the directive? This doesn't happen in the developed economies. It raises the doubt about government's seriousness to execute the directive," says Ashok K Aggarwal, Director-General at TEMA [Telecom Equipment Manufacturing Association].(See TEMA Favors Strong Regulation For Recovery and TEMA Slams Radiation Restriction Delays.)

Action plan
While the operators might have their own agendas and the government is following a cautious approach in the current unstable telecom environment, it is essential to keep the public interest on priority.

Industry players should make public their carbon emissions level and set an achievable emission reduction target in a phased manner. The government, instead of succumbing to the pressure of telcos, should work with the industry to develop renewable energy solutions that could meet the growing infrastructure demand.

Operators also need to take up this issue as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities and make strategic investment plans towards sustainable solutions. For continuous growth, it is important that the telecom sector should migrate to an energy-efficient business model.

Jatinder Singh, Principal Correspondent, Light Reading India