The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's

proposal to give green points to cellular operators has been buried under the dust of time
without much action. But some of the major players have identified the procedures of
carbon trading and the benefits it entails. Some are even minting good profits from it.

The concept of carbon trading arrived in India in 2002, and since then India has
developed an attractive CDM portfolio with a market share close to 12%.

The Kyoto Protocol, 1997, urges all countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions
by 5% from their 1990 levels by 2012, or pay a price. A carbon credit refers to one tonne
of carbon dioxide emissions avoided by the adoption of a certain practice when compared
with a business–as-usual (baseline) scenario; it can be sold on the carbon market to a
company in the developed world looking to offset excess emissions.

The World Bank has built itself a role in this market as a referee, broker and macro-
manager of international fund flows. The scheme was entitled Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM)-or 'carbon trading'-in 2000. The bank subsequently handed over $10
mn to India's Infrastructure Development Finance Company to fund clean projects that
would generate saleable carbon credits.

The Government of India announced its National Action Plan on Climate Change in July
2008, reinforcing the need of climate change mitigation and adaptation actions. India has
been strengthening its position in the credit exchange market. The Indian CDM project
portfolio has grown exponentially, from 297 projects in April 2006 to 753 projects in
September 2007 to 1,114 projects in 2007, with over 536 mn carbon credit potential up to
2012. Indian revenues are expected to grow by $10 bn by 2012. Out of the 806 projects
registered India bags nearly 35.7%. The consultants say that the best should be done
before the carbon market closes. There is growing demand from the Indian industry to
extend the 2012 deadline.

Telcos in the Carbon Market

Carbon credits consultants say awareness among telcos on carbon trading is very much in
place. It would be naive to assume that the players in the telecom sector have not heard of
carbon trading and the procedures, and the benefits it entails.

Last year, State Bank of India had disclosed its plans to create financial instruments to aid
carbon credit trading and management and fund and advise clients in the eco-friendly
business. The country's oldest bank had said it had signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with Eco Securities India , MITCON Consultancy Services and
Cantor CO2E India to jointly provide one-stop solutions to industries for CDM projects
and emissions trade.

In a bid to promote environment-friendly telecom infrastructure, the Telecom Regulatory

Authority of India proposed to give carbon credits to operators for using eco-friendly
fuels to power their exchanges and mobile base stations in 2006. Around the same time,
the Cellular Operators Association of India engaged the R&D of ACME to conduct
research and pilots on using hydrogen-based cells to power mobile base stations.

The regulator had suggested giving financial incentives in terms of lower revenue share
to operators deploying non-conventional sources of energy such as solar and wind energy
wherever possible, as the operational cost to provide backup power supply in case regular
electric supply is erratic, is very high. Moreover, since the use of generators for long
hours results in pollution, there is a need to encourage use of non-conventional sources of
energy. If a service provider uses, say, solar energy to energize base stations, the
company may be considered for certain incentives. Taking a cue from similar concepts
being used internationally to reduce pollution, Trai had calculated the incentives but
thereafter there is no update on the proposal.

In the same year, Bharti Airtel and ACME Tele Power that provides energy management
solutions, entered a joint venture for carbon credits. Selling the carbon credits obtained
by the sites jointly run by the two companies has been generating revenue ever since.
Sources in the industry say, 50% of Airtel's profits from credits sale were to go to
ACME.

Reports show in 2006 that ACME presented a carbon credit mandate of $30- $40 mn to
the Ministry of Environment & Forests. By saving energy of 2 kW per hour at each site,
1.6 kg of carbon per hour is being saved.

An ACME official says, “With over 60,000 sites of telecom operates using this
technology, more than 8,40,960 tonnes of carbon is being saved each year. Credits that
can be earned from this can be easily calculated.”

“Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications have smaller shares since the
requirement of CDMA sites is lower than that of GSM sites. The company is studying
similar proposals from Idea Cellular and Vodafone,” the official says.

Also Nokia Siemens Networks is in global collaboration with ACME TelePower to

provide energy efficient radio cell site solutions to telecom operators. So, there is a lot of
incentive to cash in by means of green initiatives.

“Critical mass adoption of green communications will occur between 2008 and 2012
during the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol Treaty period. Within five years, green
communications solutions will become part of the normal course of business,
automatically including the reporting, monitoring, tracking, and trading of carbon credits
on various interconnected carbon exchanges. This emerging trend is already apparent in
the current market,” says Vivek Dhariwal, a consultant from Emergent Ventures.

“If telecom carriers do not deploy solutions sets incorporating environmental branding,
then power utilities will. Once green communications product branding and service sets
are offered by the first movers, be they power utility or carrier, the acquisition cost per
subscriber for other service providers will increase,” says Dhariwal of Emergent
Ventures.

Investments for Credits

The telecom players are now investing in a host of telecom products that are increasingly
contributing towards both building a greener tomorrow and helping the country's
economy, while showing its customers that being environment-friendly is profitable. The
energy solutions companies are innovating on technologies that can reduce Green House
Gas emissions drastically, in process making the unit or the project eligible for carbon
credits in large volumes.

Sudipta Das, National Leader, Climate Change & Sustainability Services, Ernst & Young
agrees the telcos are increasingly becoming active in their investments to go green.
“There are big names in the telecom industry who are looking at carbon trading as a
green pasture, but there are some new ones who are yet to rollout there services in some
3-4 months time. For them carbon trading is a premature concept.”

A recent analysis indicates that India is likely to derive over $800 mn a year from CDM.
Growing at a rate of 4% per year, India's greenhouse gas emitting companies contribute
almost 3% of the world's total emissions. Therefore, the country is seen as one of the
most attractive destinations for CDM-linked investments. Estimates put the cumulative
foreign direct investment on account of such projects at about $2 bn, growing at the rate
of $200 per year. However, there are no figures available to show the share of telecom
players in this business.

According to a FICCI research paper published recently, although India holds more than
25% of the $64 bn carbon trade, brokers purchased more than 40% of the transactions in
2007 for higher future prices. The Government of India too is skeptical about the efficacy
of CDM as there is no clarity on what after the deadline ends. Even the FICCI paper said
that post 2012 uncertainty 'hung like a dark plume' over the carbon markets.

The Ministry of Science & Technology wants that the country should not make profits
alone but also get access to newer technologies.

In spite of the prevalent uncertainty, consultants says the future for CDM is bright.
Dhariwal says with the government launching NMEEE (National Mission on Enhanced
Energy Efficiency) under NAPCC (National Action Plan on Climate Change), it will
involve domestic trading scheme for energy efficiency certificate. And energy is directly
linked to carbon, which is a good sign.

Recently, Australia has provided a white paper on their Cap and Trade system to be
launched in 2010, in which their companies can buy as much CERs to achieve their
targets.

“With the US president-elect Barack Obama giving signal of US intentions on possible

future climate change regulations in the country, the future of this business is bright. Yes
there are challenges in terms of the current financial turmoil we are experiencing globally
which may dampen the investments for the time being. But as we pass this financial crisis
we will be heading towards solid carbon trading opportunities in India and the World and
telecom players can undoubtedly be party to it,” added Dhariwal.

"India is one of the biggest telecom markets in the world and more than 200 million rural
subscribers are set to come into the picture in the next two-and-a-half years." The growth
of the sector is directly proportional to the mounting costs for developing physical
infrastructure and the Greenhouse Gas emissions (GHGs). The Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) sector currently consumes approximately 2% of
global carbon emissions, more than 2/3rd of which are generated by the network. An
average mobile tower consumes 96 kW of power daily and in areas of weak power
supply, diesel consumption can average 24 litres per day. Energy consumption is one of
the leading drivers of operating expenses of about 35 percent of the total for both fixed
and mobile network operators. There is huge capacity to reduce this percentage through
energy efficiency and decreasing power consumption. To address these issues, The
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is under the process of preparing
consultation paper on “green telecom” which offers guidance for the use of eco-friendly
equipment in the ICT sector. The blog is expected to address critical issues like
increasing carbon foot print-contribution of telecom industry, need for carbon credit
policy for the sector, methods / options to reduce the carbon foot print by ICT industry in
India, standardization of Green Telecom equipment and incentive for their adoption and
framework for monitoring carbon emission and corrective action for telecom sector.

This makes the network operators to Go Green!!!! Many of the major operators have
already identified the procedures of carbon trading and the benefits it entails. The telecom
players are now investing huge in energy efficiency systems which will involve domestic
trading scheme for energy efficiency certificate under the National Mission on Enhanced
Energy Efficiency under the NAPCC. And energy efficiency is directly linked to carbon
emissions mitigation. By saving 2kW per hour at each site 1.6 kg of carbon per hour can
be saved. With over 60,000 sites of telecom operates using this technology, more than
8,40,960 tonnes of carbon is being saved each year. The energy solutions companies are
innovating on technologies that can reduce GHGs drastically, in process making the unit
or the project eligible for carbon credits in large volumes.

Green technologies adopted by telecom operators

While Mobile becomes a basic need in India, developing telecom infrastructure

especially in rural areas has become a challenge for the telecom operators and
consultancies due to the unreliable power supply. At this point, solar thermal and solar
photo voltaic (PV) cells seems to be promising in realizing the goal of indigenizing these
technologies in India with steep reduction in costs and in parity with the objectives of the
National Solar Mission. Solar Technology is the only long term sustainable and
inexhaustible alternate energy. Technology for harnessing the solar energy is now well
proven and established. In this the telecom towers are powered with solar PV cells which
uses sunlight to generate electricity and reduce the dependence on conventional power
and other conventional fuels. According a study, on an average, installation of solar PV
cells can lead to reduction of 2.5 tons of CO2 emission per tower every year. The other
technology supplement to pure solar energy solar solution is solar and diesel hybrid
power solution which has minimum environmental impact and low maintenance rate. In
this the power supply system uses solar energy and diesel generator to generate
electricity in a complementary manner and provide the electricity generated to the site.
The purpose of the hybrid power system is to cope with the solar energy power supply
risk encountered when there is a long series of consecutive rainy days or when the peak
sunshine hours fluctuate widely from month to month especially in moderate and cold
climates in the country. Apart from the above explained there are several other in-house
technologies, which the telecom operators are innovating for their sustainable business
operations.

Some of the initiatives that telecom operators can take for “going green” are-

• using energy-efficient equipment for network systems powered by green energy

• using solar energy for the power supply
• using energy saving and environmentally friendly materials
• green supply chain packaging and logistics innovations

Few Ongoing Initiatives:

The green initiatives taken and are being under consideration by some of the telecom
operators and consultancies are-

• Bharti Airtel is leading the way with solar energy. It is powering mobile towers
with solar PV in remote rural areas in India. It has also entered a Joint Venture
with ACME Tele Power for carbon credits. Airtel is also the first to operate its
network on Energy Management System (EMS) which helps the company to slash
its operating cost upto 40%.
• Huawei, a telecom infrastructure provider have developed innovative
technologies which involve improving the power amplifier efficiency, raising the
base station working temperature to eliminate the air-conditioning system,
 adopting the distributed and integrated central office and using the intelligent
shutdown technology. It has launched SingleRAN solution based on the software-
defined radio (SDR) system to simplify energy-using nodes and save energy by
way of network convergence which has a potential of reducing 1.5 tons of CO2
per year per base station.
• Nokia Siemens Networks is in global collaboration with ACME TelePower to
provide energy efficient radio cell site solutions to telecom operators.
• GTL Infra, a subsidiary of Mumbai-based Global Group, which has 32,500
towers, has already started moving from diesel to solar and other alternate
sources of energy.

Telecom operators and infrastructure providers are already aware of the kind of benefits
and advantage the energy efficiency and renewable energy provides and thus a major
thrust in switching over to solar power is seen gradually. Energy efficiency, green
innovative technologies and integration of renewable energy sources are the only options
for the telecom industry to be a part of the low carbon growth for the country. According
to an industry report, all of these factors and initiatives will continue to converge over
the next several years, and "green" network equipment will grow to represent 46% of the
$277 billion global telecom infrastructure market by 2013.

http://voicendata.ciol.com/content/news/110050701.asp

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Comments

Gaurav on 01st November 2010:

The efforts are been made and going on on telecoms capital infrastructure side but, we
need to strengthen the knowledge in Public about it and make aware that, buy throwing
one mobile instrument how much you are polluting the world. At present for social
status, people are buying new age multimedia phone and old phone throwing in dustbins,
not even giving back to recyclable agents which are very few in India.

Gaurav on 01st November 2010:

Why we are not raising voice to make manufacturing process more green and
sustainable?
Why Govt has not implemented policy for integrated infrastructure facilities for telecoms
towers between operators?? Each telecom tower is spreading how much radiation in
residential area!!! Why cant we have designated places where telecom towers can be
construction in Urban Areas???!!

Komalirani Yenneti on 01st November 2010:

Gaurav!! I agree completely with you . i think the first and foremost important think we
need to create is the basic awareness in the public. In UK, where I stay I see a number of
mobile and other technology recycling points, but in India there are just handsome.
Except the city of Bangalore and Delhi, none of the cities have these recycling sheds. In
that case where do these used items would go? First I do al think there is a need for
development of recycling points and then create awareness in the public