The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is likely to make it mandatory for mobile companies to use renewable sources of energy for powering their towers.
Under the new rules, at least 50 per cent of towers and 20 per cent of the urban towers are to be powered by hybrid energy sources (renewable +grid) by 2015. This will have to be raised to 75 per cent of rural towers and 33 per cent in urban areas by 2020. The new norm is aimed at reducing the carbon emissions due to increased dependence on diesel.