Bharti Airtel Aims for Greener Footprint in Africa

Bharti Airtel announced a commitment to a greener environmental profile including for its operations in Africa. The company said that over last one year, it has reduced the number of telecom sites running solely on diesel by more than 50%. By 2013, the Bharti Airtel aims to completely eradicate the constant use of diesel to power its network. This means no telecom site of the company will rely solely on diesel power 24 hours a day.


Bharti Airtel is leveraging Hybrid Battery Banks to collect the excess energy produced by the diesel powered generator. This stored energy powers the site once the generator in switched off. This has helped reduce the use of diesel by up to 14 hours a day. Close to 60% of Bharti Airtel's telecom sites in Africa are now powered using the Hybrid model.


Mr. Eben Albertyn, Chief Technical Officer, Bharti Airtel, said, "This milestone is the result of significant steps by Airtel taken to ensure that we reduce our fuel consumption and that we play our part in conserving the environment. We will continue to do so as the year progresses. Our first priority is to reduce the number of sites that are completely reliant on diesel generators. We are doing this by connecting these sites to grid electricity in areas where this option is feasible. Where it is not, we are exploring alternative forms of power supply, which include Hybrid Battery Banks and solar/wind power."http://www.bharti.com In June 2010, India's Bharti Airtel acquired Zain's mobile operations in 15 countries across Africa for US$10.7 billion. This included operations in15 countries with a total customer base of over 42 million. The total population base covered is over 450 million with telecom penetration of approximately 32%. The countries in which Bharti has acquired the operations are - Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. Zain is the market leader in 10 of the 15 countries and second in 4 countries.