Global telecommunication companies led by Kenya’s Safaricom have unveiled an environmentally friendly initiative that will encourage them to exploit energy-cost saving sources, towards lower communication tariffs for consumers.
United under the Global Systems for Mobile communications Association (GSMA), 25 leading telecoms including MTN Uganda and Zain, on Thursday started the Green Power for Mobile programme at a meeting in Nairobi, Kenya.
The programme is meant to help the mobile industry use renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, or sustainable biofuels, to power 118,000 new and existing off-grid base stations in developing countries by 2012. Base stations are a combination of power generators and telecommunication masts used to relay wireless communications to people.
By achieving powering that number of base stations on renewable energy, it would save up to 2.5 billion litres of diesel per annum and cut annual global carbon emissions by up to 6.3 million tonnes, according to information sent to Daily Monitor, by the association on September 18.
The GSMA, the global trade body for the mobile industry forecasts that by 2012 up to 50 percent of new off-grid base stations in the developing world could be powered by renewable energy.
The Green Power for Mobile programme will provide expertise to support mobile phone companies to deploy base stations that use renewable energy. Up to now, off-grid base stations are primarily powered by generators running on diesel fuel, which is increasingly expensive, generates carbon dioxide emissions, and can be difficult to transport to remote locations.
One of these generators can use as much as 1,500 liters of diesel per month meaning that a company can spend up to about Shs3.8 million, at Shs2,530 per liter, to run one. Adopting renewable energy sources like solar could save telecom companies such recurrent costs since they are capital intensive but cheaper to maintain hence reducing the cost of providing the communication services.
“As they strive to bring the benefits of mobile coverage to as many people as possible, operators need to find reliable, sustainable and economic sources of power far beyond the reach of national electricity grids,” said Mr. Rob Conway, Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of the GSMA.
“Through our Development Fund, the GSMA has built deep expertise in solar, wind and other renewable energy sources that mobile operators can tap to help them connect the unconnected reduce operating costs and minimise environmental damage,” Mr. Conway added.
According to the GSMA, to date only 1,500 base stations worldwide are powered by at least one form of renewable energy. Kenya’s Safaricom is a leader in the use of renewable energy for networks with 30 base stations powered by solar and wind energy.
Telecoms have been reluctant to adopt renewable sources of energy because of fear of little commercial viability, lack of equipment expertise, but the GSMA now suggests operators investing in green power sources for base stations could recoup the capital costs in as little as 24 months.
The GSMA Development Fund is already working with several mobile operators to develop renewable power solutions for a variety of base stations located in diverse geographies. The Development Fund has supported Caribbean-based Digicel Vanuatu’s deployment of wind and solar energy to power 17 new base stations on the Pacific island of Vanuatu.
After a successful pilot in conjunction with the GSMA Development Fund and Ericsson, India-based telecom Idea Cellular now uses waste cooking oil to help power more than 350 base stations in India, where power supply can be erratic. The base stations run on a blend made up of 80 percent diesel fuel and 20 percent waste cooking oil.
Other mobile operators participating in the programme include: MTN Group, MTN Nigeria, Vodacom Tanzania, Orange, Orascom Telecom Holding, Roshan, , Smart, Telefonica, Telenor Pakistan, Vimpelcom, , Vodafone Egypt, Zain Group, Zantel AXIS, Bharti, Dialog, Digicel, Idea Cellular, Indosat, Econet, Grameenphone, Mobinil, MTC Namibia, and MTN Cameroon.
