Indus Towers, the biggest telecom tower company in India, will be investing Rs.400 crore this financial year on projects that will help the company reduce energy consumption at its mobile base stations.
The company, which is a joint venture between the three big operators in the country, — Airtel, Vodafone and Idea — has already made nearly half of its over 1 lakh towers green.
“Of the over 1.19 lakh tower sites that we have, we now have 50,461 green towers. We plan to invest about Rs.400 crore this year on innovative energy projects, similar to last year’s investment,” Indus Towers Chief Executive Officer Bimal Dayal told The Hindu .
Mr. Dayal said the company had been able to save 147.37 million litres of diesel and 48 per cent energy cost in the last five years by converting over 50,000 towers into eco-friendly green towers.
While he did not share a new target in terms of getting more green towers, Mr. Dayal said each month the company, on an average, converts about 1,500 towers.
For 2015-16, the company’s revenue stood at Rs. 16,014 crore, up from Rs. 14,975 crore in 2014-15.
Asked about the issue of radiation from towers, Mr. Dayal said, “A lot of efforts have been made to allay fears around radiation from mobile towers, even from the government. Our radiation standards are very strict and the equipment we use is the same globally.”
