Mobile network operator, Airtel Nigeria, has resolved to massively deploy power and plug into the national power grip as measures to reduce the huge consumption of diesel to power its base stations.
The service provider stated this during a media roundtable held at Sheraton Hotel in Ikeja, Lagos on Tuesday.
Speaking at the event, the company’s Director of Corporate Communications, Mr. Femi Adediran, said the service provider spends N28 billion monthly on diesel of about 22 million litres to power its sites every month.
According to him, “Let me make it clear that we spend N28 billion on diesel alone every month. And our sites across the country gulp over 22 million litres of diesel every month. We spend this huge sum to avoid any downtime with any of our sites across the country. To sustain our service and offer our esteemed customers seamless offers, we now leveraging solar power and other renewable energy sources to power its over 15,000 base stations,”
In his presentation, Airtel’s Chief Technical Officer (CTO), Harmanpreet Singh Dhillon, said Airtel would deploy new state of the art ICT facilities to enrich the Airtel network because of the rising use of video which mostly uses data services across the world,
“Airtel would be Investing in Lithium-ion batteries rather than traditional batteries, which helps break down the carbon footprint. Apart from reducing their carbon footprint, the telco was also adopting outdoor-operable electronics/ telecom equipment.
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“These devices can withstand extreme temperatures, humidity, and dust, eliminating the need for indoor air-conditioned spaces.
“The traditional equipment used to be very sensitive to temperature, high temperatures, for which you require an indoor room and air conditioning, which again increases your energy consumption.
“Now we are buying equipment which can operate in any environment, hence the power consumption goes down and doesn’t require high kilowatt consumption,” Dhillon explained.
On her part, Airtel’s Director of Information Technology (IT), Kemi Ariyo, said the telecom actively used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to study consumer’s behaviour and tailor Airtel’s products and services towards them.
Ariyo said Airtel’ Tier 1 data centre under construction in Lagos would be completed in 2027.
When completed, she said, it would improve data services in the country and improve the economy.
Airtel’s Marketing Director, Ismail Adeshina, said Airtel’s 5G rollout would be completed across the country soon.
The company also announced its collaboration with UNICEF and the federal government to provide IT facilities and internet to 1,280 schools across the country.
