COAI demands industrial electricity tariff rates for telecom infra

New Delhi, Apr 3 (KNN) The Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) has demanded that telecom infrastructure be charged at industrial and not commercial rates for electricity.

SP Kochhar, Director General of COAI told PTI, “Telecom is an infrastructure industry, but we are still being charged at commercial rates for power. Today, most states provide electricity on commercial tariff rate to telecom industry, placing it in one of the highest brackets of power tariffs.

“Applying the industrial electricity tariffs for telecom services will yield significant cost benefits for players that will give the telecom sector more money to roll out infrastructure,” he said.

COAI, whose members include telecom operators like Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea has also been demanding for the sector to be provided uninterrupted 24x7 power supply.

As per reports, COAI has written to various states, flagging the issue, and making a case for applicability of industrial tariffs for electricity usage by the sector.

The Telecos’ body has also appealed to the government for "priority electricity connection" arguing that new connections need to be provided in a predictable time-bound manner.

"We want electricity connections on priority, and assured supply of electricity, which is the case with many categories that are essential such as water, hospitals. Telecom industry does not, so the result is most of the time we are dependent on diesel (diesel generators)," the association’s director general said.

On the green energy front, the association is pushing for load aggregation for telecom sites to avail the green open access energy.

The electricity consumption at each telecom site should be allowed to be aggregated (that is allowing aggregation of loads of multiple towers) and offset with green power (solar, wind, hydro) generated at distant locations, COAI added.  (KNN Bureau)