As India's power supply improves, OMCs see drop in telcos' diesel demand

Sharing of tower infrastructure by telecom service providers has further led to a reduction in the fuel required to operate mobile towers

State-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) are witnessing a steady decline in diesel demand from the mobile tower segment, once seen as an important end-user of diesel in the country.

Industry experts explain India’s improved electricity supply, advent of solar projects, and tower infrastructure sharing are some of the reasons contributing to this decline. "The telecom tower industry has deployed more than 100,000 diesel free sites (sites that consume only a litre of diesel a day, use solar cooling units, lithium batteries, simple power panels, fuel cells and FCUs etc.). Undoubtedly, in the past few years, the government has made progressive