Bangladesh’s top mobile phone carrier Grameenphone signed deals with three solar power companies to run its base stations using the alternative energy, a statement from the cellphone operator said on Tuesday.
The deal will save the Grameenphone, which is 62 percent owned by Norway’s Telenor, up to 1.15 million litres of diesel a year, the company said.
“Annual carbon emissions up to 3,062 tonnes will be avoided, while millions of people will be connected to mobile networks using green power,” the company said.
Chief Executive Oddvar Hesjedal said Grameenphone was the first telecommunication company in Bangladesh to use solar power on a large scale.
Grameenphone has over 160 off-grid base stations which are entirely dependent on diesel generators and around 1,500 more sites where the grid power situation is poor.
Only one in three people in Bangladesh have access to a mobile phone, though mobile use has been growing at a rate of more than 20 percent a year among Bangladesh’s more than 150 million population.
