Telcos want to go green at no additional cost

The telecom service providers today demanded that the government should not force any regulation that increases cost of the network for going green.

"We are ready to accept any suggestion to go green that does not increase cost of our network," said S C Khanna, secretary general of Association of Unified Service Provider of India, at open house session on green telecom organised by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

"Telecom reforms have reached at the stage where things can not be mandated. We cannot afford to increase tariffs," he added.

GSM players lobby Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) also expressed similar remarks.

"Saving power and going green has become business necessity. Telecom network has expanded and sufficient power is not there. Measure to levy to any surcharge on diesel will be retrogressive," said Suarabh Puri, deputy director (research and analysis), COAI.

Puri was reacting to the remark that subsidised diesel should be provided for commercial use at mobile towers.

Stakeholders at this meet highlighted availability of solutions which should be used in telecom network to make them more efficient and reduce carbon footprint.

"Products are available to make telecom networks green. What is missing is strong regulatory framework that can lead to deployment of energy efficient product and best network architecture," said Krishna Kumar Sirohi, chief technology officer, Vihaan Networks.

Objecting to the views, Girish Kumar of IIT, Mumbai, said that "life of human being, birds, animals and environment is more valuable than that of the cost to be incurred for going green. Companies will need to bear the initial cost but it will be absorbed over years".

According to official data, there are 5,88,077 telecom towers in the country and depend on diesel generators when power is not available during the day.

Trai issued a consultation paper in February on green telecom to evolve mechanisms to assess and control carbon footprint and deliberate on the need and form of carbon credit policy for the telecom sector. This paper has been in line meet India's target of reducing carbon emission by 20-25% by 2020.