Indus Towers to make 20k more towers diesel-free by April 13

MUMBAI: Telecom mast operator Indus Towers will make 20,000 of its sites or 20 percent of its network diesel-free by April 2013 at an investment of up to Rs 165 crore as part of an initiative to reduce carbon footprint, a top company official said today.

Indus Towers is a joint venture between telecom majors Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular.

The company has already turned over 8,900 towers in its portfolio of 1.10 lakh diesel-free and will work towards taking the number to 20,000 by April 2013, chief executive BS Shantharaju told reporters here.

Making a tower diesel-free entails an investment of up to Rs 1.5 lakh, he said, adding though capital cost of setting up a site is much higher, the operational cost is lower.

Due to frequent power disruptions across the energy-deficient country, mobile tower firms depend on the carbon-emitting diesel for keeping the towers running.

To go diesel-free, Indus will enhance electricity supply at the site, augment battery bank, deploy free cooling unit and increase usage of solar power interventions, he said.

Indus Tower saves up to 5 million litre diesel annually through its nearly 9,000 diesel-free sites of which Mumbai city will alone accounts for around 2 million litre per annum, Shantharaju said.

The company today announced all of its 2,940 sites in the financial capital have gone diesel-free, making Mumbai the seventh such city nationally.

Mobile towers in other cities which have gone diesel-free include Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Chandigarh and Kolkata, among others.