Indus Towers eyes 100K photo voltaic websites by FY29, says MD & CEO Prachur Sah

India’s largest telecom tower supplier Indus Towers goals to have 100,000 towers powered by photo voltaic power by monetary 12 months 2028-29 (FY29), with the Bharti group-backed firm crossing the 50,000 tower mark from its present base of 280,000 towers as of September 2026. Indus began utilizing solar energy for its towers in mid-FY24. At present ranges, the installations generate 300 megawatt (Mw), sustaining the facility demand for the present websites in addition to mitigating the expense improve seen by the corporate because of the rise in diesel prices, stated its Managing Director and Chief Govt Officer (MD & CEO) Prachur Sah in an interplay with Gulveen Aulakh.

  

Indus is aggressively utilizing synthetic intelligence (AI) to enhance working metrics, which is able to end in decrease working prices over time. Sah added that Indus venturing into Africa, with three markets, was aimed toward being a long-term play with greenfield tower installations at decrease prices, which might make the case enticing for African carriers. Edited excerpts:

 

How is Indus seeking to mitigate the influence of rising gas prices because of the West Asia battle?

 

We’ve got 50,000 solar-powered websites producing power, with a complete put in capability of 300 Mw. Primarily based on our analysis, it is the biggest and we’re the primary firm to achieve this type of a benchmark globally. Historically, towers have been charged with electrical energy, diesel, and batteries. We began ramping up about two and a half years in the past. Our ambition is to get 100,000 (solar-powered towers) by FY29. This not solely reduces value, however truly cuts emissions. Secondly, within the first half (H1) of FY27, now we have lowered our diesel consumption by 11 per cent in comparison with H1FY26 by a mix of photo voltaic, gas, batteries, and AI utilization for power administration. That is substantial, given the truth that there was a major rise in diesel costs. So, now we have been in a position to truly negate the rise of costs by this administration. Some websites in J&Okay, as an illustration, are self-sustaining as they run on solely photo voltaic and batteries, with out the necessity for diesel.

 

Is it extending into batteries?

 

So, two-three years in the past, we took a holistic view of our power operations, and we made some strategic choices. One was photo voltaic deployment. Second was transitioning from the previous lead-acid form of batteries to lithium ion. That may be a journey that now we have began. So, we’re shifting the place all of the websites will develop into lithium ion over the subsequent few years. The entire concept is to allow quick charging on the websites so we are able to retailer power. This permits us to offer dependable uptime to the client, that means the tower basically by no means goes down.

 

With telco capex shifting in the direction of capability, is AI utilization main tower demand in any manner? And is AI being utilized in tower administration?

 

Within the second quarter (Q2) of FY27, we rolled out 3,000 towers and eight,000 tenancies. We’ve got a wholesome order e-book. The second buyer’s (Vodafone Concept’s) rollouts are additionally beginning to catch up. Funds too are coming by. Proper of manner can be getting higher, so there’s no constraint. Information utilization will certainly drive the tower demand, and we’re assembly the necessities of shoppers (telcos) accordingly. However in-house we’re leveraging AI to attach all our towers, and now we have full visibility of all electrical gear on websites. So, if there’s a difficulty at a photo voltaic website, the system generates a ticket and we get it mounted instantly. We’ve got nearly 250,000 websites which might be transmitting real-time information.

 

What’s the highway map for Africa enlargement?

 

We began with three international locations in Africa—Nigeria, Zambia, and Uganda—having our licences to function there. In September, we did our first set in Uganda and Zambia. Africa is a long-term technique for us. The thought is to pursue greenfield enlargement, differentiate ourselves by decrease capex per tower, and scale back power prices. That’s the plan of enlargement over the subsequent few years. Africa is a progress alternative and it is a rising market, so it’ll stay related for us for a very long time.

 

Will enlargement be past the three international locations?

 

As soon as now we have established our footprint there, then we’ll see how issues pan out.

 

How is AI getting used to enhance tower administration or metrics?

 

There’s lots of work that we’re presently doing utilizing AI to alter how we function, change the way in which it’s executed. We wish to set a benchmark when it comes to how we function the tower for our clients. We’re doing lots of AI-based picture and video analytics validation work on the websites. This won’t solely improve operational productiveness, but in addition enhance security, significantly throughout important occasions like floods. AI is being deployed for website upkeep and supervision. Now since lots of our websites are related, you may have two-way communications with the websites. This helps in stock administration. We’ve got additionally put in sensors in all our diesel turbines, permitting you to observe gas ranges in actual time. With this data at hand, you may simply decide precisely what number of litres are wanted for refill. So, two years down the road, how we function our towers will essentially change.