As telecommunication services has become an essential service just like other basic needs of daily life, telecom networks are required to maintain an uptime of 99.95%, which is also a license norm for service providers. In order to maintain 24X7 operations, the mobile tower requires un-interrupted power supply. The telecom towers consume around 10 – 15 kW of power supply making telecom sector a key consumer of electricity.
As we all know, India have a gigantic demographic. Hence, the uninterrupted power supply in every far flung area still remains a challenge which is why mobile towers requires secondary source of electricity i.e. through diesel generators sets. Though as per the PPAC Nielsen 2014 report, mobile towers diesel consumption out of total is only 1.54% from 12 identified sectors.
With India adopting 17 sustainable development goals and Paris Climate Change Agreement, by 2030 India has to reduce its carbon footprint by 33.35 percent from 2005 levels.
Telecom Infrastructure sector is adopting the vision of zero environment harm safety culture and is committed towards further reducing its limited dependence on diesel usage for maintaining uptime by using innovative green energy solutions such as renewable energy solutions, conversion of sites from indoor to outdoor, sites with energy efficient storage solutions, Diesel Free Sites, i.e., sites consuming a litre of diesel a day, solar cooling units, lithium batteries, Simple power panels, fuel cells and FCUs etc. The sector seems like have proclaimed silent war against carbon emission and diesel usage.
As a result, the industry has so far deployed more than 100,000 diesel free sites, which accounts for around 25 percent of the total mobile towers across the nation. The industry has taken several voluntary initiatives with a view to contribute towards the common cause of reducing carbon emissions by reducing energy consumption by 25-30 percent.
To further support and to take more environment beneficial steps, Government of India should unite with the industry players by addressing the existing legal and regulatory barriers, which will further nurture the telecom tower sector combat climate change. On the urgent basis, the government should
Extend preferential electricity tariffs to the telecom tower Industry:
The telecom sector has been granted infrastructure status by the government of India in the year 2012. The status entails benefits such as accelerated depreciation, VGF, tax holidays and electricity at preferential tariffs.
However, the industry has been subjected to one of the highest electricity tariffs despite being granted the infrastructure status by the Government of India. As mentioned above, the industry has to maintain 99.95% network uptime which has been mandated by the government.
In view of this, the sector is enforced with high tariffs, which is further billed by IP-1s to TSPs who are facing hyper competition and financial stress of more than 4.6 lakh crores.
In order to extend relief to the industry, Government support is needed to stipulate benefits such as priority electricity connections on preferential tariffs and other benefits as applicable, i.e. accelerated depreciation, VGF, tax holidays, higher ECB limits etc., to be extended to the telecom sector at the earliest and the same should be provisioned in the draft National Energy Policy.
EB connections should be available, on priority
Telecom towers are widely scattered and there are still areas where electricity is not available. Nearly 25% of the people are without access to electricity. It is importnat that quality electricity is made available in these regions to ensure provision of uninterrupted telecom services.
Reiterating, telecom towers are required to operate 24 x 7 and need uninterrupted power supply. However, the grid power is erratic in many regions of the country. There is a need to focus on the quality of power and the performance of discoms needs to be measured on three key parameters - 1) Access, 2) Availability and 3) Quality of power.
Further, in areas where grid electricity is available, extension of EB to the nearest point to provide connections to telecom tower sites is a challenge restricting the last mile connectivity. Extension of EB to the nearest point of telecom tower should be made available which will mitigate diesel usage at telecom tower site. Proliferation of electricity and socio-economic growth are interlinked. Thus, access to quality electricity to all should be the top most priority of the government.
Taking proactive approach of Government into the accounts, in July 2017, Department of Telecom (DoT) announced that it is working electrifying 10,486 mobile towers from power grid in order to reduce diesel consumption on cell sites.
Further, irregularities in electricity bills is rampant across the country and there is a dire need that electricity bills highlighting fair EB usage to be made available. Also, in this era of digital India provisions of online bill generation should be made by all the discoms.
With the Government’s focus on digitization by giving thrust to initiatives such as Digital India and Smart Cities. In this digital era, there is a need for an automated web based transparent AMR based metering and billing access to Discoms and users. This will result in less disputes regarding billing and collection of costs.
Open Access Regime
Presently, the regulations require a connected load of 1MW or above to buy cheaper power from the open market. The telecom sector which powers more than 4,50,000 towers are not eligible for the open access regime since the individual site only consumes around 10 - 15 kW depending on the tenancy.
However, a cluster of site will account for more than 1 MW of power and be eligible for the open access. Enabling provisions need to be made in the open access regulation so that entities with lower power load can also participate which will also help drive investments in setting up renewable energy parks/farms.
It is pertinent to highlight that the telecom sector can be one of the potential consumers of RESCOs that will have a significant impact on lowering diesel consumption at telecom tower sites.
Further, setting up of mini/micro grid plants in areas where grid power is not viable will boost the connectivity in the region as non-availability of a viable electricity supply is a major impediment for rolling out tower sites and provide telecom services.
As provisioned for Oil & Gas sector for open access and regulated tariffs, on the same lines Open Access of Power for telecom sector at industrial rates should also be considered.
Net Metering implementation at ground
The industry is deeply committed to install energy efficient solutions such as solar energy solutions despite the huge capex and higher pay back periods involved. Net metering policy has been implemented by the government of India but is yet to be applicable on ground.
It is pertinent to highlight that net-metering is essential to enable roof – top solar solutions as it assist in crediting credits solar energy system owners for the electricity they add to the grid.
Apart from the implementation of net-metering policy, challenges are also faced from the Discoms who are reluctant to provide net metering solutions, as deployment of solar solutions pose a commercial threat to them.
The use of diesel to power mobile towers is by compulsion, not by choice. In order to mitigate and alleviate use of diesel in powering telecom networks, the industry together has taken suo-motu initiatives such as diesel free sites, energy efficient storage solutions, conversion of indoor sites to outdoor sites, and deployment of renewable energy solutions wherever feasible.
Further, extensive government support is needed to empower industry with provisions such as preferential electricity tariffs, availability of EB connections, implementation of Net Metering and open access regime etc.
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