QUESTION:What are upcoming Green telecom strategies in pipeline and what is your opinion on their future success. What are the current green telecom projects in the pipeline.

ANSWER:Our goal is to develop, run and enable environmentally sustainable business which combines environmental and business benefits:

Maximizing the positive environmental impact of ICT by helping other industry sectors to reduce their environmental footprint with our technology

Minimizing our own and our customers' environmental footprint

We at Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) believe that advanced communication technology can play a significant role in creating a sustainable future, in reducing adverse environmental effects while maintaining opportunities for economic welfare and growth.

The environment is a continuing concern for many consumers, with 68 percent saying that they like to do business with companies that are environmentally responsible. Clearly, environmental leadership can be an important differentiator for operators prepared to invest in creating sustainability across their business.

For operators, environmental responsibility, lower costs and reaching into remote areas are the three energy efficiency drivers. NSN's energy solutions portfolio addresses these issues head on.

A study by the Global e-Sustainability Initiative and The Climate Group – SMART2020 – shows that the ICT industry can play a central role in monitoring, optimizing and managing domestic and industrial energy usage, which could save nearly 600 billion Euros by 2020. According to the study the ICT sector as a whole could reduce 7.8 Gt of CO2 emissions out of total 52 Gt global emissions, equal to 15% of the world's emissions.

Nokia Siemens Networks is responding with product offerings in mobile and fixed networks, network planning and operations and service solutions and researching new usage of telecommunications in other industries.

Our environmental innovationdrives real business benefits by enabling operators and service providers to use their networks' environmental performance to improve competitiveness, profitability and differentiation. These improvements are achieved through:

1.Managing the entire product lifecycle to support sustainability

2.Low power consumption in products and solutions

3.Intelligent network and site design

4.Using intelligent software features to control power consumption

5.Reduced size of products, enabling more efficient transportation and installation

6.Use of software instead of hardware, where possible

7.Use of renewable power sources>

8.Sophisticated take-back and recycling services for equipment

Our innovations in green telecom have consistently set benchmarks in providing environmentally sustainable products and solutions to our customers.

In November 2009 we launched the industry's most comprehensive approach to efficient and sustainable telecoms growth for operators of new and legacy telecommunications networks as a promising and exciting new portfolio with key wins in MEA, WSE, APAC and China. Since the launch of Energy Solutions, we have deployed more than 390 sites running on renewable energy, in 25 countries in Asia-Pacific, China, Europe, Middle East Africa and Latin America., already providing 1.7GWh of energy.

Our Green Energy Control solution has moved beyond the pilot stage and is now in the delivery phase with 400 solutions commercial sites. Telenor Pakistan shared their extreme satisfaction in our designing and delivering their off-grid site solutions ahead of time to support rural development. Zain are implementing our Energy Solutions as part of our MS deal with them in Kenya and Tanzania in the form of an Energy OPEX management and Off-Grid Site solutions.

We were the first telecommunications network provider to join the WWF Climate Savers program in 2008. We plan to decrease our CO2 output by two million tons per annum compared to 2007.

QUESTION: To what extend do you think government's involvement can help accelerate green initiative drive in telecom industry. By increasing govt. participation; can telecom companies invest more on green telecom drive?

ANSWER:Environmental protection is a matter of great concern for the Indian government. Government can play an instrumental lead in formulating guidelines and developing clean energy infrastructure to accelerate green initiatives.

Earlier this year, the Government made positive moves in this direction by increasing expenditure by 61 per cent towards realizing its target of generating 20000 MW of solar power by 2022 and offering subsidies on equipments for harnessing wind, solar and geothermal energy sources (announced in Union Budget 2010-2011).

We also welcome the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) contemplation in coming up with a consultation paper on “Green Telecom. Such initiatives will encourage companies to develop environmentally friendly products and solutions to promote the green cause.

Within mature markets, energy is already used efficiently however potential governmental subsidy allows new revenue generating options, while keeping carbon emissions within targets defined by CSPs. In addition smart metering and smart grid are solutions providing great potential.

QUESTION:What are the new innovations possible to make this initiative more fruitful and accelerate this drive more productive.

ANSWER:Nokia Siemens Networks is #1 vendor in deploying energy efficient mobile networks offering the industry's most comprehensive approach to efficient and sustainable telecoms growth for operators of new and legacy telecommunications networks. Our Energy Solutions are designed to reduce network operating costs and lower the power consumption of telecoms networks by exploiting more efficient technology and renewable energy. Our Energy Solutions offering was awarded the 2nd place within Green Solutions category announced by CTIA E-Tech awards in March 2010.

QUESTION:What is the impact of green telecom on emerging markets versus developed markets?

ANSWER:The growth opportunity of bringing communications to emerging market populations means that networks are extending into increasingly remote rural regions. This often means rolling out into areas without any electricity grid, or where the grid is unreliable with daily power cuts. The GSM Association estimates that 75,000 off-grid sites will be built in emerging markets each year through 2012.

Furthermore, in mature markets, energy accounts for up to 10 percent of an operator's OPEX, while in emerging markets it can be as much as 30 percent. Therefore, renewable power sources are an excellent choice for many emerging markets, because they contribute to the low total cost of ownership that is vital for providing affordable communications services to subscribers.

The Nokia Siemens Networks Green Energy Control contains intelligent algorithms to enable efficient fuel consumption by the generator and is able to make the most of off-grid or bad-grid situations along with the effective utilization of available renewable energy sources (solar and wind). It can also capture other site-related parameters to aid in better site maintenance. In addition, it enables remote monitoring and controlling capabilities. Specifically:

1.Remotely monitoring the energy produced by the relevant energy source and controlling the battery loading cycle by keeping full control of energy produced and consumed.

2.In the case of multiple power sources, the system selects the cheapest and most reliable energy source, first to cater for the load and then to charge the batteries

3.Remotely monitoring diesel generator runtime and fuel consumption

4.Automatic controlling of generators

5.Fuel monitoring and level detection (optional

6.Controlling of battery charging/discharging from different sources and monitoring of site, ambient and battery temperature

We focus on reducing these costs by understanding the operator's current energy situation, proposing solutions, delivering them, and then helping to maintain the gains achieved.

QUESTION: What is the business case for green telecom, and what components have the most impact on ROI?

ANSWER:Going green also makes good business sense in terms of lower operational costs. With some 86 percent of a mobile operators' total energy use being consumed by the network, improving energy efficiency can reap substantial financial rewards. There is also growing pressure on operators to reduce their power consumption for environmental reasons, and to run their networks in a smarter, cleaner way.

Energy is a significant percentage of a communications service provider's operating cost. In mature markets it accounts for up to 10 per cent, while in developing markets it can range from 15 up to 30 per cent, and as per ABI Research, this is makes it the third biggest component of a mobile operators' OPEX (ABI Research), with over 80% of it related to the network infrastructure.

Our efforts have yielded dramatic reductions in the electricity required to power telecom network. The innovations combine renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, more energy efficient practices for data center operations, and enhanced focus to recycle or reuse network equipment.

Green telecomsolutions like Nokia Siemens Networks' Energy Solutions make a perfect business case for telecom operators by addressing four main elements of capital and operational expenditure. These include minimizing the number of base station sites; minimizing the need for air conditioning to cool the sites; using the latest base station technology; and, deploying software features that optimize the use of radio access for wireless communications.

Our portfolio has radio access energy efficiency solutions including products such as the Flexi Base Station which help cut energy consumption by up to 70% at site level and also improve energy efficiency in existing base station networks by up to 35- 40% at site level. An example in emerging markets is our Off-Grid Site Solution, able to reduce site OPEX up to 70% and carbon emissions by up to 40 tons with a payback period of two years. Additionally, our autonomous site solutions offer the usage of alternative energy sources such as solar and wind-powered base stations.

akankshas@cybermedia.co.in

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