savramesh 37 Report post Posted March 10, 2010 Source MUMBAI: 'Going green' is no more an option for telecom operators. It has become a necessity in a market where margins are nosediving due to tariff wars, denting the profitability of the mightiest. With energy expenses constituting nearly 25% of the total network operating costs, efficient power management holds the key to improving financials, as operators have already shaved other costs to the bone by outsourcing non-core functions. Equipment vendors like Ericsson, tower companies including Bharti Infratel and network services provider GTL are investing big bucks in bringing out green products and solutions to cut operators’ opex. While a pan-India deployment looks some time away, up to 20% reduction in energy requirements is achieveable in the near future, said industry officials. India currently has around 3 lakh towers, and the number is expected to increase to 450,000 towers with 900,000 tenants in the next three years. Given the frequent power cuts, each tenant consumes almost 3,000 litres of diesel every year on a shared tower, which increases operations costs. “Apart from reduction in levies and duties, efficient-energy management has the potential to bring down costs for operators,” said Idea Cellular chief corporate affairs officer Rajat Mukarji. Idea is using bio-diesel on some of its base stations on a pilot basis. “The savings are nominal, as of now, but if it can be replicated on 3-lakh towers across the country, the amount of money that can be saved will be huge,” he said. GTL president & COO (strategy & new technologies) Sharat Chandra said the company is pumping in Rs 1,400 crore in the first phase for engineering and deploying solutions that reduce energy expenses. “These solutions are targeted to cut energy requirements by up to 20%,” he said. Aircel Cellular is already using these solutions, which include solar systems, micro-wind turbines, adoption of free cooling methods, energy audit, besides others. GTL has deployed these solutions at more than 5,000 sites, reducing energy consumption and carbon emission. ‘We are planning to turn the entire portfolio of towers into green towers in the next three years,” added Mr Chandra. While Bharti Airtel’s EBITDA margin declined 1.53% year-on-year to 39.3% in the December quarter, the figure for Idea eroded from 25.3% to 23.5% due to a fierce tariff war. Airtel’s infrastructure arm Bharti Infratel is aiming to cut energy costs by 15% annually with plans to invest Rs 300 crore in seven pilot projects (P7) for reducing energy consumption. “We have undertaken trials for solar power, bio diesel and free cooling, among others. We are rolling out pilots in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, where grid availability is poor and diesel costs are high,” said a Bharti Infratel official. Ericsson V-P (marketing & strategy) P Balaji said: “We are helping operators improve the efficiency of their networks through delivering energy-efficient products, providing optimal network design and introducing the innovative use of alternative energy sources to run these networks, lowering the cost of operations.” Ericsson has launched its wind-powered radio base station (RBS) site solution in India, offering low-cost of construction and maintenance. The towers do not require feeders and cooling systems, resulting in up to 40% lower consumption of power. It has also undertaken pilots using bio-diesel to cut costs and reduce carbon emissions. According to Macquarie Equities Research analyst Shubham Majumder, Indian operators run fairly efficient operations with limited scope for improving margins by cutting costs. “Network opex is the only cost lever that would cushion the fall in profitability. Although these green initiatives to cut down the network opex costs are underway, it will be quite some time before they can help telcos attain significant cost savings,” he said. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Genius 817 Report post Posted March 10, 2010 the major credit goes to idea to initiate the process of thought. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
me_saket 73 Report post Posted March 10, 2010 YA, i know, when i was working in idea celluar, there was news, IDEA is using bio-diesel in villages, Recently, Huwaei and GRAMEEN PHONE( Telenor Bangladesh) also running Green network Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ACS 130 Report post Posted March 11, 2010 Is it Grameen or Garmeen - Or are these 2 diff companies.. The satellite phone used by Ajmal Kasav was Garmeen - I though its a chinese duplicate thing going on in satellite phone space too.. considering their friendly ties. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
csmart 472 Report post Posted March 11, 2010 its not green.. they are trying to reduce their operating cost. by promoting green and showing govt that they are investing in energy saving, they get loads tax breaks. if they are environment friendly, then stop printing bills. give credit/discount of courier charges to the user. will they do it? no.. maine apan kharcha bachaya... besides, user need to have copy of bill otherwise, acounts will not approve. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KanagaDeepan 1,084 Report post Posted March 11, 2010 TATA Indicom gives FREE ITEMISED BILL with full details of all calls if one opt for bills sent to e-mail and NOT paper bill... Else they charge Rs25 for paper bills with itemised details... Friends, You know what Airtel is giving for itemised bills sent to email without paper-bill??? Seven days of FREE cricket alerts (ofcouse chargable from 8th day onwards) They look into every option to get money... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
me_saket 73 Report post Posted March 12, 2010 Is it Grameen or Garmeen - Or are these 2 diff companies.. The satellite phone used by Ajmal Kasav was Garmeen - I though its a chinese duplicate thing going on in satellite phone space too.. considering their friendly ties. huawei link huawei link video Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
