In a written reply to Lok Sabha, Milind Deora, minister of state for communications and IT has stated that telecom towers are consuming more than 5.12 litres of diesel every year.
Currently, the country has 5,85,000 mobile towers. Further, a report prepared by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India indicates that an average of 8,760 litres of diesel is used per tower every year. This is based on the assumption that each tower is operational for eight hours and is powered by diesel generators. The total carbon emission on account of diesel used by telecom towers is estimated to be around 10 mt of carbon dioxide.
