TAIPA undertakes green towers pilot

NEW DELHI, INDIA: As the diesel consumption by tower infrastructure companies has raised environmentalists' eyebrows coupled with economic concerns, TAIPA (Towers and Infrastructure Providers Association) plans to convert 25 per cent of the existing towers on self-sustainable model.

Telecom regulator has earlier directed tower companies to trim down their dependence on diesel in order to cut carbon emissions. The mandate would convert 30 per cent towers in rural regions and 20 per cent towers in urban India to green by 2015.

Telecom minister Kapil Sibal said that the government, with a host of initiatives taking nation forward. "Both physical and virtual infrastructure is important. He said that business community has now realized that consumers need to be benefitted, which he believes is imperative for the industry.

Tower infrastructure is capital intensive and could help economy grow; therefore facilitating infrastructure status is essential, Sibal said who believes that it would infuse fresh funds into the industry. "By December 2012, Unified License regime would put an end to all ambiguities," added Sibal.

DoT secretary R Chandrashekhar said that the core feature of the new telecom policy is to facilitate collaboration and sharing. "In rural India, power problem affects telecom services. Therefore, all support will be extended to tower companies and service operators in all possible ways," he said.

 

Chandrashekhar believes that there has been concern about diesel consumption by towers which leads to high carbon footprints. "The challenges in the course of transition from diesel to renewable energy need to be dealt seriously," he added.

COAI director general Rajan S Matthews said that the industry is often blamed for causing all kinds of illness without any scientific rationale. The bubbling population vis-à-vis spectrum deficiency is a challenge for telcos.

Umag Das, director general, TAIPA said that the Central government is taking immense interest in the issues raised by their association. TAIPA also appreciates the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure move give infrastructure status to tower companies.

TAIPA chairman Akhil Gupta said that they have achieved consensus with the government and NGOs, which he believes is a milestone. "We are ready to take up challenges in the wake of explosive data growth.

Gupta said that they have made rapid progress and with the cooperation of the Ministry of Renewable Energy, the pilot will be on 1,000 tower sites. "We expect pilot results by March 31, 2012," he added.

Greenpeace India campaigner Abhishek Pratap said that diesel is not impacting environment but has posed a challenge for the economy. The price for renewable energy, Pratap believes would come down as demand get scales up.

TAIPA plans to offer clusters falling under multiple tower companies to RESCO, which is a sharing model. The program includes development of self-sustainable ecosystem. The association aims to transform 100,000 towers. TAIPA said that timelines will be decided after the completion of pilot.