No green signal here

The location of the Haji Ali intersection in Mumbai has one of the highest concentrations of towers and antennae in India, making it one of the best mobile signal coverage sites. But that coverage comes at a high cost. While the towers generate crores in annual revenue for Viom Networks, Bharti Infratel, Indus Towers, Reliance Infratel, and GTL, here’s the green alert: To run the base stations (equipment at the base of the towers that process the signals) around 2 billion litres of diesel is required annually to run gensets. Switching to solar power can save Rs 6,506.4 crore in operational costs. The industry, which is responsible for 11 million tonnes or 1% of India’s CO2 emissions, could also do with a face-saver. Anyone on the line?