Round table held on 'Renewable Energy Options for Telecom Sector'

NEW DELHI, INDIA: With the telecom sector emerging as the largest consumer of energy in India, Renewable Energy Option for the Telecom industry were discussed at a national round table inaugurated by Hon’ble Thiru A Raja, Union Minister of Communication & IT and Hon’ble Dr. Farooq Abdhullah, Union Minister of New & Renewable Energy in the presence of Venugopal Dhoot, Chairman CMAI, an integrated association for IT and telecom companies in India.Currently, the total carbon emission from cell phone towers is 11.76 billion pounds or 5.3 million tons annually in India. The annual cost of diesel incurred on running the towers across India is estimated at Rs. 6400 crore.

These significant facts highlight the growing need to promote the adoption of renewable energy options for Telecom sector in India. Alternative energy options, including solar and wind energy can address the challenge of unavailability of reliable power supply in semi-urban, rural and remote areas thus enabling telecom connectivity for the remote parts of the country.

Ravi Sharma, Executive Chairman, CMAI, Arun Seth, Chairperson, CMAI Alternative Energy Committee and Rajiv Mehrotra, President TEMA, were also present on the occasion.

Addressing the seminar, Thiru A Raja, Union Minister of Communication & IT said that while the growth of telecom sector has been good in urban locations, much needed to be done in rural areas. To sustain and accelerate it further, there was a need to encourage telecom service providers to view the rural markets as an opportunity.

Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Union Minister of New & Renewable Energy laid emphasis on the utilization of renewable energy by the telecom players for their towers and commented that industry should come forward in utilization of Renewable Energy.

Venugopal Dhoot, Chairman CMAI, said that India is expected to have one billion mobile phone subscribers by 2015 that means about 250,000 more mobile towers. He said: “Going forward, going green and pushing India’s dream of solar power is the need of the hour. We look forward to the Government to support the adoption of renewable energy in telecom sector through suitable policy instruments.”

Hon’ble Minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah and Thiru A Raja also launched the publication, ‘Role of Renewable Energy in Telecom’ by CMAI’s knowledge partner Mazars. The publication highlights the utility of renewable energy and other related technological innovations in the telecom sector, while also identifying advantages of alternative sources of energy and their impact on reducing costs of running the network critical equipment.

Green solutions to power problems for rural telephony and changing the economics of backup power were discussed at the round table.