lndian Telecom - Towards a Greener Future

8/6/2019 lndian Telecom - Towards a Greener Future

1/4

I INDUSTRY

lndian Telecom

Towards a Greener Future

The lndian telecom is all set lor athe regulatory body, TRAI, lor thetelecom and ICT sectors.

greener touch with the renewed push lromuse ol eco-friendly green equipment in the

telecom equipment and incentive fortheir adoption, and a framework formonitoring carbon emission and correc-tive action for telecom sector.

Equipment vendors such asEricsson, tower companies includingBharti Infratel and network servicesprovider GTL are investing big bucks inbringing out green products and solu-tions to slash their operating costs.While a pan-India deployment lookssome time away, up to 20Vo reduction inenergy requirements is achieveable inthe near future, said industry experts.

The going green mantraIn recent times, telecom companies areswitching over to new sustainable en-ergy sources to operate their towers.Presently, there are more than threelakh towers in India that run with ap-proximately 2 billion liters of dieselper year by emitting 5 million tons ofCOz per annum with the operating ex-penses

of $1.4 bn, i.e., almost one-thirdof the total operating expenditure. Op-erators usually spend almost two-thirds of their total costs on network,and in states like UP and Bihar, al-most 40Vo of towers are stationed inrural areas where there is a huge powershortage, and hence the operators haveto depend on diesel-powered genera-tors and other cooling equipment forrunning the towers. Many of these gen-erators are as old as 10 years and arenot effrcient in terms of usage of diesel

and consume more diesel than re-quired. Moreover, as the towers in-stalled are quite old, they consumemore energy, i.., from 1000-3000watts. This in turn releases huge vol-umes of carbon dioxide into the eco sys-tem. This method is uneconomical andunfriendly to the environment.

Undeniably, energy consumption isthe major operating expense for both

ike every other industry on theplanet today, the global tele-communications industry is be-

coming conscious of the consequences ofclimate change. Indian telecom indus-try, which has been witnessing unprec-edented growth for over a decade now, isalso following suit by gradually shiftingits focus towards sustainable and eco-friendly operations. This is where'Green Telecom' steps in.

In fact, 'Going green'is now a neces-sity rather than an option for telecomoperators, thanks to nose-diving mar-grns due to tariffwars. With energy ex-penses amounting to nearly 25Vo of thetotal network operating costs, efficientpower management holds the key toimproving their performance. Opera-tors are therefore exploring all possibleways to cut down its dependence on die-

40 I May 2011 I

sel and opt for greener technologies. Thegovernment also seems to be geared upto encourage a discernible change in thepower usage pattern of the telecom in-dustry.

According to the International Tele-communication Union (ITU) report, theIndian telecommunication sector con-tributes 2-2.5Vo to the global carbonemission. The figures are all the morealarming for the developing countries

like India. Consequently, the TelecomRegulatory Authority of India (TRAI)also crme up with a consultation paperon'green telecom' which offers guidancefor the use of eco-friendly equipment inthe ICT sector. The paper addressedcritical issues like the options to reducethe carbon footprint in the telecom in-dustry, the need for carbon credit policyfor the sector, standardization of green

I The Analysl I


2/4

lndian Telecom

The telecom sector is providing lakhs of jobs,

but it is also giving cancer and other serioushealth problems to lakhs of people, besidescausing harm to birds, animals, trees, etc.The telecom sector claims that it is the fastestgrowing industry, but it is also creating the

fastest growing health problems, and that isthe reason why health and environment min-istries are afterthem. The telecom sector saysthat it is providing the cheapest services in theworld, but ittakes money from even the poor-est of the people in the country and also getsgovernment subsidy; and then nearly 40o/o otthe total collected money goes to foreign ven-

dors. lf the technology had been developedand manufactured in lndia, the money wouldhave remained within the country and alsocreated millions of jobs.

Recommendations to reducecarbon lootprinto The government must adopt immediately

a policy to reduce the transmitted powerto a maximum of 1 to 2W, which will pro-tect the health of the people from theharmful effects of cell tower radiation.

fixed and mobile network operators.Nevertheless, the sources of power arenarrow in most of the developed na-tions. According to Girish Kumar, Pro-fessor, Electrical Engineering Depart-

ment, IIT Bombay, "There are morethan 4.5 lakh towers in the country as of20LI and due to shortage of powernearly 59Vo of the requirement is metthrough diesel generators and thiscauses pollution."

Hence, a few corporates have beengoing green to reduce their carbon foot-print. According to an industry report,all these factors will continue to con-verge over the next several years and'green' network equipment will grow torepresent 46Vo of the $277 bn globaltelecom infrastructure market by 2013.

Deploying renewable sourcesCompanies are taking up CSR strate-gres in an attempt to gain competitiveedge. Their'go green' strategies are fo-cused on better technolory, renewableenergies, improving efficiencies andnetwork sharing. At the same time,

I The Analyst I

This may create signal problem to thepeople living near the edge of the circle inthe beginning; hence, a public an-nouncement must be made that it is be-ing done to protect the health of thepeople. The people must be educated

about the adverse health effects of cellphone and cell tower radiations.

Once the power transmitted is reduced,power amplifiers may not be required atmost of the places, and no cooling will berequired. This will reduce the energy re-quirement substantially, which can beeasily managed with the renewable energysources.

0nce the power requirement is reduced,DG will not be required in most of theplaces. This will also save the diesel sub-sidy amount of Rs 1 ,400 crlyear,

The above measures will reduce carbonfootprint, thereby generating carbon cred-its.

Self-certification/regulation must not beallowed. The government must enforcestringent policies to monitor the radiation

there is a need for the government to actpromptly on the right time. The govern-ment should make a call to think be-yond carbon-emitting sources like die-sel to shift towards greener energysources such as wind, LNG (LiquefiedNatural Gas), PNG (Piped NaturalGas), CNG (Compressed Natural Gas)and so on. Among the renewable enerrysources, solar is the cost-effective energysource that can be produced on a largescale in rural areas. Presently, the op-erators enjoy 307o subsidy for renew-able energy, and in the recent budget,the government has announced 50Vosubsidy for solar projects. Also, unnec-essary subsidies on diesel should be di-verted towards efficient usage of renew-

able energy sources.According to India's iGovernment

website, "A total of 250,000 cellphonetowers can be converted to the renew-able energy solution, including 32,500from GTL Infra, 100,000 from Idea Cel-lular, 50,000 from Reliance Infratel,and another 30,000 from BhartiInfratel." Analysts opine that the pro-

level, air pollution level, etc. near the celltowers. Monitoring must be done by athird party, and extremely heavy penaltymust be handed out in case of any viola-tion, as it is directly related to the health ofthe people, birds, animals, trees, environ-

ment, etc.All the people living close to the towelwho have suffered from high radiation,must be compensated. lt should comeunder the corporate social responsibility.

Greater emphasis must be given to R&Dto develop better solutions.

lndigenous development and lndianmanufacturers must be given preference.

The government must make a rule that atleast 90% of the telecom-related products

must be manufactured in lndia. This willhelp create millions of jobs in lndia, andalso most of the money will remain withinthe country.

- Girish KumarProfessor, Electrical Engineering Department

llT Bombay, Powai, Mumbai

posed green telecom project would re-duce 5 million tons of carbon dioxideemissions and save $1.4 bn of cost forthe tower companies.

Further, a few industry experts

have recommended certain ways for ef-ficient i*plementation of greentelecom. They are: "Allnew telecomtowers should be running on the renew-able/green energy with a 407o load fac-tor; all operators should roll out a planto move all towers from conventionalenergy to renewable energy as statedin point l, and by March 3L, 2020 notower should be running on conven-tional energy; all network componentsshould reduce their energy usage 57oYoY for the next 5 years and 2Vo YoYaftenvards if not running on renewableenergy; and inefficient gensets (olderones) should be replaced in the nexttwo years."

The renewable revolutionHowever, some sections of the industryhave expressed concerns over imple-mentation. They have made an appeal

I May 2011 I 41


3/4

lndustry

r $ C Khanna r Uikram Tiwathia..

and QUALCOMM, 4s also the telecom infrastructure provid-ers INDUS Towers and VIOM have proactively committedthemselves to the cause of energy efficiency, clean energy andclimate change mitigation by investing in a host of telecomproducts and senrices that are increasingly contributing to-wards building a greener tomorrow, while helping thecountry's economy. Senrice providers have in place 'greenpowey' programs, exploringthe use of awide range oftechnolo-grs, such as bio-diesel, fuel cells, pico-hydro, wind and photo-voltaic panels.What are the business opportunities and Ghallenges associated withgreen telecom inilialives?S C Khanna: As networks are expanding and more operatorsare entering the telecom field, the challenges related to pro-viding electricity to these expanding nehvorks are becominggreater, paving way for opportunities to exploit green tech-nologies efficiently. The key driver to demonstrate the cost ofenerry efficiency improvement is through Total Cost of Own-ership.

The ultimate goal of a1l companies is to become carbon-neutral, and the only way for most companies to achieve azero footprint is through carbon offsets and implementationof energ;r-efficient technologies which a^re essential represen-tations of a reduction in GHG emission. Carbon offsets serveas a way for more and more countries and corporations to earncarbon credits which they can then trade in an open market-

place. This can encourage comparries togo green because

theycan earn by selling their credits to other companies that maybe struggting to comply with the mandate. Carbon exchanges,where companies can buy/sell and trade carbon credits, areoperating worldwide, although particrpation in many of themis still voluntry, and will open avenues for comparries/corpo-rations to assist green telecom initiatives.

Equipment vendors have uln excellent business case forsupplyrng enerry-effi.cient and cost-effective nehvork equip-ments. The senrice providers, in spite of their efforts and bestintentions, have not been able to deploy such alternative en-ergy sources as solar/wind/fuel cells in large scale, as theseare very costly and are economically unviable. Enerry costs

are among the largest operating expenses of nehvork opera-tors, and enerry consumption from telecom nehvorks is anincreasing contributor to globat GHG emissions. This envi-ronmental issue requires initiatives to improve the enerryefficiency of telecom networks and reduce their associatedcarbon emissions.

The renewable sources and other non-conventional enerryrequired for telecom sector should be available at affordablecosts. The present cost structure for utilizing alternative

"'Going gteen' has become a necessity in a market where margins are constantly teducingdue to tailll leductions and increasing cost ol inputs lor service providets and manufacturets."

The lndian telecom sector is aspiring for enuironmentally sustainabletechniques t0 telecommunicate. How do you see this trend?S C l*ranna: Indian telecom sector is going through an un-precedented phase, resulting in massive expansion of thetelecom nehvorks across the country. The growth of telecoffi,though having a corresponding impact on environment, is as-sisted by the green telecom initiative undertaken by themember senrice providers.

The growth of green telecom poses an upward trend elic-ited by the deployment of alternate sources of energy andenerry-efficient technologies by the senrice providers, whichdirectly impact the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). Tltisera of green revolution opens up new avenues for the develop-ment of green technologies and optimum utilization of alter-nate sources of energies. Senrice providers, with governmentsupport, aim to bring about a revolutionary change in thepossible usage ofrenewable sonrces of energy and thus help inthe considerable reduction of GHG emissions.Vikram Tiwathia: As energy costs continue to climb, busi-nesses around the world are looking for new ways to consen/eenergy and resources. This is especially crucial for the telecomsector, \Mith enerry expenses constituting a major chunk ofnehvork operating costs. The Indian telecom senrice providersare fully conscious of the needs pertaining to the choice of theequipment they use \\rith a diligent evaluation of the powerrequirements. 'Going green'has become a necessity in a mar-

ket where margins are constantly reducing due to tariffreduc-tions and increasing cost of inputs for service providers and.manufacturers.

With 3G and 4G technologies coming into the picture,data traffic is bound to increase drastically which wouldmake telecom companies aspire to use enerry-efficient net-works and data centers.

Also, the Next-Generation Nehvorks (NGNs) that allowvoice and data functionality onto a common network infra-structure-which was not the case earlier, 8s there was aneed to have separate nehvorks for voice and data-wouldhave a positive effect in reducing power requirements.Which leading providers, 0EMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers),

and technology companies are heading the green telecom initiatiue?S C Khanna: Our member senrice providers and othertelecom service providers are efficiently deploying greentelecom technologies. With rapid expansion of existing net-works due to addition of subscribers, the role of energy effi-ciency is considerate. As regards OEMs, most of the leadingequipment manufacturers are adopting green telecom initia-tive in their device and equipment manufacturing.Vikram Tiwathia: Our members, Ericsson, Huawei, Cisco,

42 I May 2011 I I The Analysl I


4/4

Indian Telecom

sources of enerry is not at affordable rate. Also, the paybackperiod for investment in energy-efficient equipment is veryhieh.Vikram Tiwathia: Resorting to green technologies to reducepower consumption is a business imperative as much as it isa social responsibility. There is a huge incentive for equip-ment vendors, tower companies and network senrice provid-ers for bringing out'green products' and'green processes' and

they have been constantly investing in this sector. However, ifsubsidies and easy availability of renewable energy sourcescan be ensured, further optimization in energy requirementscan be achieved in the near future.How do you see the role ol the government in boosting the initiativesand shaping the course 0f green telecom?S C Ktranna: The government should aggressively encouragethe use of non-conventional enerry sources and support thestakeholders in various forms like capital expenditure sub-sidy, concessional rates for various government levies/taxes,etc. Also, capital subsidy support, tax credits and low interestfinancing must be provided by the government. Formulationof policies to encourage the use of non-conventional sources of

energy like solar energy and wind energy, wherever possible,will be of great help.Vikram Tiwathia: The infusion of more funds/capital for in-vesting in'green'should be taken. Given the high costs of prod-uct development in green technology, the government shouldprovide necessary incentives to make it a viable businesscase for their deploJrunent, especially in rural markets. Effortsshould be made to ensure that the grid power is made avail-able to the mobile operators on a priority basis. The pilotsand steps already taken by the telecom industry for the use ofgreen technologies should be incentivized for scaling up.What are the best practices being implemented by the lelecom opera-tors across the globe?

S C Khanna: Senrice providers are focusing on the develop-ment of alternative projects such as solar or wind energy toreduce their GHG emissions. Most of our member service pro-viders are encouraging recycling ofwaste materials, includingnon-usable network materials and mobile phones. Serviceproviders are also using green shelters or deploying outdoortowers wherever found feasible to reduce the power consump-tion. They are also trying to minimize the number of towersthrough more tower sharing to reduce the carbon footprint.

Members are also proactively deploying cost-effective andenergy-efficient nehvorks to considerably reduce carbon foot-

to the government that the proposedimplementation of green telecomshould not increase their cost of net-work. In this regard, Girish Kumar said,"The life of human beings, birds, ani-mals and environment is more valuablethan that of the cost to be incurred forgoing green. Companies will need tobear the initial cost but it will be ab-sorbed over the years."

I The Analyst I

print. As a welcome step towards green telecom, operatorshave started promoting e-bills and creating awarenessamong the subscribers to avail the same facility to sustain agreener approach.

In the paper "ICT, Enabler of a Low Carbon Economy'',senrice providers identift the many opportunities for Infor-mation and Communication Technologies (ICT) to supportenvironmental sustainability and describe the role of ICT

for a low-carbon economy.Given this backdrop, how do you see the future prospects of lndiantelecom?S C Khanna: The service providers are aware and recognizethe importance of reducing carbon footprint and improvingenerry efficiency. The impact of cellular mobile is far lowerwhen it comes to energy usage and carbon dioxide emis-sions, despite its rapid growth. It has been estimated thatapproximately 0.L4Vo of global CO2 emissions and approxi-mately A.L2Vo of prim ary energy use are attributable tomobile telecom. This compares with 2O7o of CO2 emissionsand approximately 23Vo of primary energy use for travel andtranspofr, for example.

Thus, looking at the low estimate of carbon emissionfrom the telecom industry as it is, the senrice providers aremaking all possible endeavors to adopt green technologiesto reduce the overall carbon footprint from the telecom in-dustry. The rate at which the Indian telecom is growing isunimaginable and thus opens up avenues for technologicaladvancement and an environment-friendly approach.

Green telecom holds a greener future, with significantlyreduced carbon emission and deployment of alternativesources of energy by the senrice providers. It also paves wayfor a cost-effective environment and reduced dependence onconventional sources of energy like grid power.Any other comments?

Vikram Tiwathia: The present situation where 60Vo of theenergy comes fi'om diesel and 407o from the gnd needs to bechanged to at least half of energy from the hvo sources com-bined to reduce pollution.

Also, ensuring lower frequency spectrum availability(700 Mhz) for mobile and broadband networks can consider-ably reduce the number of base stations required and thushelp in reducing the GHG emissions considerably.

* Secretary General, Association of

**seniorDirect""tt,Hrtff il::ff?:ff:"X1*ff:of India, New Delhi

Moreover, the problem of e-wasteis also alarming the telecom industry.Hence, analysts opine that manufac-turers have to move towards a healthyway of discharging the waste material.The industry as a whole has to worktowards a collaborative approachstarting from the scratch by creatingan eco-friendly network system with-out adding much to the global carbon

footprint. In all, a renewable energ"yrevolution should take off in thetelecom industry. By reducing the en-ergy consumption in the network anddeploying alternative energy solutions,the industry is expected to implementgreen telecom effectively sooner thanlater. r

- Y Bala Bharathi and G P Mrudhula

Reference # 01M-201 1-05-09-01

I May 2011 I 43

Documents

lndian Telecom - Towards a Greener Future