Green Telecom Towers
Green Telecom Towers
Green Telecom Towers
June 2011
Sagar Gubbi
Managing Partner Ecoforge Advisors Pvt Ltd, Bangalore, India sagar@ecoforge.in +91-97312-02201
1
Source: Telecommunications, India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) and Ernst & Young (E&Y), April 2010
Green Telecom Towers, Jun 2011 Ecoforge Advisors Pvt Ltd, Bangalore, India
Market Players
Passive infrastructure sharing (tower-sharing): Passive infrastructure being one of the most important components of a mobile network, the same has been a critical area of operations for telecom companies in the past
11
Tower company
Indus Towers Reliance Infratel BSNL / MTNL Viom Networks Bharti Infratel GTL Infra Others Total
No of towers
110,000 52,000 52,000 38,000 34,000 33,000 51,000 370,000
As per some estimates, about 20% of Indias 370,000+ telecom towers are currently located in off-grid areas A further 20-25% of towers are located in unreliable grid areas Completely off-grid towers typically run on diesel generators for 18-20 hours a day and on batteries for the remaining hours of the day Towers in unreliable grid areas run on grid power for 8-10 hours a day, diesel generators for 8-10 hours and batteries for the remaining hours of the day All telecom towers in India face power cuts for some hours of the day, with urban towers facing power cuts for 2-3 hours per day on an average
Green Telecom Towers, Jun 2011 Ecoforge Advisors Pvt Ltd, Bangalore, India 14
Shared Towers
Shared towers with 2-3 indoor BTSs require 12-16 kW of power (DC and AC) whereas shared towers with outdoor BTSs require 3-5 kW
Backhaul/Hub towers typically require higher power but they are small in number when compared to regular towers
Green Telecom Towers, Jun 2011 Ecoforge Advisors Pvt Ltd, Bangalore, India 15
In some regions, wind-solar hybrid solutions are also being trialled Fuel Cells are also being trialled both as standalone power sources and as alternatives to batteries
Ecoforge Advisors Pvt Ltd, Bangalore, India 16
Sagar Gubbi Managing Partner Ecoforge Advisors Pvt Ltd, Bangalore sagar@ecoforge.in +91-973 120 2201