According to recent news by Economic Times, Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Government of India, has asked the telecom service operators in the country to put 584,000 telecom towers on Geographic Information System (GIS).
“We have been asking for GIS mapping of telecom towers from some time now. It can be linked with Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund. Unfortunately, telcos are apparently reluctant even today,” DoT special secretary Rita A Teaotia.
This response has came after a long standing demand from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and the Ministry of Environment wanted geographical locations and frequencies of towers so as to oversee their diesel dependence and environmental impact.
With GIS mapping, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy wants to gauge energy drawing patterns of telecom service operators based on their diesel consumption and to effectively track and monitor operators’ carbon footprint.
The process of GIS mapping has already started for telecom towers in north-east India, and the top official said that they have been instrumental for other parts of the country where state-owned BSNL have footprints.
“With GIS-based platform, optimization of networks can be planned and by this way towers can be reduced upto 30%,” Teotia said and added that the initiative would be “highly desirable” to facilitate collaboration and consultation.
