Airtel targets to install 1.6 lakh mobile sites in 3 years

New Delhi: Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Monday said it has set a target to install 1.6 lakh mobile sites and reduce 70 per cent carbon footprint through green initiatives in next three years.

"We are passionate about driving down our carbon footprint. Our ambition is to reduce our carbon footprint by up to 70 per cent in the next 3 years," Gopal Vittal, Managing Director and CEO (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel said in company's India Sustainability Report 2016.

He said that for reducing carbon footprint, it will be deploying lower power consuming base stations, promoting green sites, driving site sharing ,converting indoor sites to outdoor, etc.

The company is targeting deployment of over 160,000 base stations in the next three years, the report said

It said that Airtel rolled out 87,000 mobile sites in last financial year. Besides, it reported 26 per cent reduction in customer complaints over the past two years.

"We have progressively achieved a reduction of 74 per cent in CO2 (carbon dioxide) emission per terabyte in our network infrastructure in India over last five years. Twenty seven per cent of this was achieved during the last one year alone," Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said.

Airtel said that it has saved 10.36 million litres of diesel saved in network infrastructure, data centre and facilities operations under its green initiative.

The report said that Airtel has saved around 70 million sheets of paper from financial year (FY) 2015 and over one billion sheets of paper since FY 2011-12 through a paperless billing initiative.

"Over the last one year, the company has also seen a 24 per cent increase in number of customers opting for paperless bills," the report said.