Converts half of its tower portfolio to outdoor sites ensuring minimal energy consumption
India CSR News Network
NEW DELHI: Indus Towers, a telecom tower company, has launched the third edition of its annual Sustainability Report for the year 2015-16.
The report showcases Indus Towers’ commitment towards protecting the environment, enhancing engagement with communities, while continuing to create value for all its stakeholders in a sustainable manner. Emphasizing its sustainability agenda, Indus Towers has expanded from 35,000 green sites in 2013-14 to 50,461 green sites in 2015-16, contributing to 44 per cent growth in green sites for the company.
Indus Towers has also lowered the energy consumption in mobile towers by 25-30% by converting Indoor sites to outdoor, and carbon emissions have also been significantly reduced, achieving a reduction of around 10.39% in diesel consumption in 2015-16.
The company has also converted half of its tower portfolio to outdoor sites to ensure minimal energy consumption. Reinforcing its pledge to providing a robust and well-connected mobile telephony infrastructure, Indus Towers showcased its efforts towards creating an efficient, cleaner and greener network system in the country.
Bimal Dayal, CEO, Indus Towers said, “We conduct our business with utmost integrity focusing on protecting the environment and being socially responsible. Sustainability thus defines the way we operate and maintain our relationship with our stakeholders.”
Manoj Kumar Singh, Chief of Sustainability, Indus Towers added, “The third edition of this report demonstrates our endeavor towards innovation and sustainability for the environment, communities and all stakeholders. This year, we have converted more than 50,000 sites to green sites and are working towards ensuring minimal energy consumption to achieve our sustainability targets.”
Indus Towers is continuously investing in various energy efficient programmes to deliver lower operational costs and greener operations for its partner telecom operators. The company is striving to introduce best-in-class innovative products and solutions by blending in world-class technology, business needs, aesthetics, environmental considerations and sustainability.
This report is an indicator of Indus Towers’ on sustainability in every aspect of the organization. The report highlights Indus Towers’ bolstered focus in creating a prolific engagement with the environment and the community it operates in, reiterating its pledge towards sustainable development in the country.
Indus Towers currently operates over 1.22 lakh towers across the country and has been a standout leader in the telecom tower industry in India. The company has been very conscious of its role as a responsible corporate citizen and focuses on community development activities – particularly in the areas of customer-focused measures, stakeholder engagement, operational excellence, and environment-friendly initiatives.
Through the report, Indus Towers has clearly identified a way forward for its sustainability initiative which will help the company achieve its objective of putting the community – and more importantly “Putting India first”.
Building a Green Economy
Working on its core values of ExCITE (Excellence, Customer, Integrity, Teamwork, and Environment), Indus Towers continues to be responsible and sensitive towards the environment and the communities it operates in. While maintaining highest standards of health and safety, Indus Towers maintains over 50,461 ‘Green Sites’ in India. These Green Sites use innovative solutions like Free Cooling Units and fast charging battery banks like Li-on batteries to reduce energy consumption and to reduce the carbon footprint. Through this, the company has been driving its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint in the circle as well as across the country.
Furthermore, through its ‘Shut AC’ initiative Indus Towers has converted over 13,991 sites from indoor-to-outdoor (Non-AC) by shutting down ACs across the country, resulting in a significant reduction in carbon emission and pollution. Indus Towers has also deployed solar solutions at more than 1,000 sites to reduce CO2 footprint.
Local Community and Training Initiatives
As a part of its initiatives to grow and sustain the local economy, Indus Towers continuously aims to improve the skills of all its employees by way of various training programs such as technical trainings, in association with NTTF, for its nearly 2500 field force technicians as well as mandatory 2.5 man-days training programs for each employee every year.
Reiterating its focus on the community, Indus Towers, in association with SOS Children’s Villages of India (SOS India), supports a total of 28 family homes – 280 children across the country. Indus has also partnered with Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), a not-for-profit social enterprise that empowers people at the edge of information, including marginalized and underserved communities. Indus also has partnership with TERI to sponsor clean energy and rural entrepreneurship through the Lighting a Billion Lives Program (LaBL) in India. Indus is also working with NGO ‘Goonj’ to collect and distribute old clothes amongst the poor.
Through its association with IIMPACT, Indus Towers is providing education opportunities to girls from socially and economically disadvantaged communities in UP and West Bengal through 110 local community based learning centers and supporting 3,300 girls. With Pratham Education Foundation, Indus Towers is promoting education through interactive digital resources, improving their quality of education and digital skills especially amongst children, women, the elderly, and the differently abled.