Mobile phone companies are going green in the running of their base stations in what is becoming a global trend.
They say that although the initial cost of setting up green projects is relatively higher, they cut expenditure and save the environment.
Airtel, for instance, recently announced plans to cut by up to 50 per cent the number of base transmission stations (BTSs), known as transmission masts, running on diesel 24-hours a day.
Safaricom, on the other hand, is already running its 110 stations on green energy, with 62 sites on solar and wind hybrid, and 15 sites on solar panels and 33 battery hybrids.
Mr Michael Okwiri, vice-president and corporate communications head of Airtel Africa, said Bharti had over the past year cut the number of sites running purely on diesel in favour of renewable power.
The firm said that 60 per cent of its sites now use a hybrid battery bank system for up to 14 hours.
The system collects excess energy produced by diesel powered generators and saves it in a battery that powers the station once the generator is switched off.
According to Safaricom corporate affairs director Nzioka Waita, there are 126 other sites running on generators throughout, although the firm plans to use green energy on 58 of these and connect 68 to the national power grid.
“We will phase out 24/7 generator powered sites, in compliance with the Environmental Management and Coordination Act, 1999 (Emca 1999) and introduce energy efficiency measures at all our operations. We will also introduce handset and general e-waste recycling,” said Mr Waita.
In 2010, yuMobile launched a paperless top-up system that enables loading and sharing of airtime electronically.
Mr Willis Angira, public relations and corporate affairs manager at Essar Telecom Kenya (yuMobile), said this was due to the need to protect the environment.
Ms Angela Ng’ang’a-Mumo, head of corporate affairs at Orange, said they embraced green powered BTSs as a way of saving the environment.
“We have put up 14 hybrid BTS using solar and wind to conserve the environment and will add more in future,” she said.
She, however, said the 40 per cent extra cost involved in setting up green stations (Sh20 million to Sh25 million) could bog down some firms.
Bharti Airtel Africa said mobile firms stand to benefit from adoption of environmental management in their businesses.
In Kenya, up to 60 per cent of active BTSs are off-grid. Generators form a significant cost item on all operators, as does inflationary pressure.
“Building the telecommunications infrastructure and maintaining it, while delivering high quality services to subscribers, is expensive,” said Mr Okwiri.
In 2008, 25 mobile operators meeting in Nairobi agreed to launch a green power initiative that puts environment protection at the forefront.
