'Mobile towers aren't enough, also they aren't clean' -Ministry of Communications and Information Technology

BANGALORE, INDIA: The existing 7.5 lakh mobile towers are not enough to cater to the rising demand in the country, finds the Indian government. "Due to the existing usages and spectrum requirement for telecom services, there is shortage of spectrum in certain frequency bands. The location and number of the towers are decided by the service providers themselves as per their technical and business requirements," said Minister of State in the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology Milind Deora in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

As regards electromagnetic radiation from mobile towers, Government has issued instructions to the Telecom Service Providers on implementation of radiation norms on Electromagnetic Field (EMF) exposure by Base Tran-receiver Stations (BTSs) from time to time, he added.

The minister also added that all these mobile towers are being powered by electricity and diesel generator sets are used as back-up power supply when grid power in not available.

In oder to examine the technical feasibility and financial viability of solar wind based power system, pilot project of solar and solar-wind hybrid system to power the Mobile Base Terminal Stations have been carried out.

The TRAI recommendations on Green Energy applications have been approved by government and the department has issued following directives to the licensees/ all ILD service providers to adopt measures to green the Telecom sector, he added.

1. At least 50 per cent of all rural towers and 20 per cent of the urban towers are to be powered by hybrid power (Renewable Energy Technologies (RET) + Grid Power) by 2015, while 75 per cent of rural towers and 33 per cent of urban towers are to be powered by hybrid power by 2020.

2. The service providers to ensure that the total power consumption of each BTS will not exceed 500W by the year 2020.

3. A phased programme should be put in place by the telecom service providers to have their cell sites, particularly in the rural areas, powered by hybrid renewable sources including wind energy, solar energy, fuel cells or a combination thereof. The eventual goal under this phased programme is to ensure that around 50% of all towers in the rural areas are powered by hybrid renewable sources by the year 2015.

4. Based on the details of footprints declared by all service providers, service providers should aim at Carbon Emission reduction targets for the mobile network at 5% by the year 2012-13, 8% by the year 2014-15, 12 per cent by the year 2016-17 and 17 per cent by the year 2018-19.

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