New Delhi – Leading industry body association Federation of Indian Chambers for Commerce and Industry (FICCI) along with global management consulting firm A. T. Kearney has recently concluded a study on promoting Green Telecom in India.
Findings of the study were presented in the form of a report, titled “Green Telecom: The Way Forward”, released on March 13 by Shri Sachin Pilot, Hon’ble Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology, Government of India, during a one-day seminar held at the FICCI headquarters in New Delhi.
It is estimated that the ICT sector worldwide is responsible for around 0.7% of global CO2 emissions. The total emission of the telecom industry in India is around 1% of the country’s total CO2 emissions, which makes it poorer than the world average in percentage terms.
Rapid increase in energy consumption due to a massive increase in tele-density and rising cost of fossil fuel has made it important to shift our focus to energy efficient technologies and alternate sources of energy, other that diesel. Alongside, almost 50% of the current carbon footprint of the telecom sector of 11 million tons of CO2 can be attributed to diesel. Therefore, going green has become an immediate and compelling necessity for telecom operators. As the second largest and fastest growing market in the world and with future growth in the industry to be driven by the currently underpenetrated rural areas, there is an urgent need for India to be conscious of concerns in this regard.
The report on green telecom released on March 13 identifies the key imperatives for the industry and the government and provides recommendations towards making telecommunications industry in India greener and cleaner in an economically sustainable manner, and is expected to serve as industry inputs for the proposed National Telecom Policy.
Stating that India’s high economic growth is set to multiply its emission of environmentally harmful green house gases that contribute to global warming, Mr. Virat Bhatia, Chairman of the Communications and Digital Economy Committee, FICCI, emphasized on the urgent need to combat the key challenges being faced by our society and the telecom industry like climate change, securing energy supply and meeting the ever increasing energy requirements.
During the inaugural session of the seminar, Mr. Mohit Rana, Partner and Vice President, A.T. Kearney, while highlighting the key observations from the report, detailed upon how with appropriate government support, the industry can become a front-runner not just in India but globally in terms of green telecom. This will also provide a fillip to the development of renewable capabilities in the country for similar applications.
The seminar focused on the current status of both the industry led initiatives and regulatory support from the government and thoroughly analyzed various options towards making Indian telecom network infrastructure greener and cleaner. The intense interactive sessions during the seminar, provided a perfect platform of discussion between the committee members, associations, key government officials, the Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology and industry as a whole, towards green and sustainable growth of the Indian telecom industry.
Source: FICCI.
