iWorld
Bharti Airtel Ltd plans to reduce carbon footprint; transforms 40,000 sites across India
MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel Limited has announced the migration of 40,000 of its network sites across India to Green technology. In continuation with the company’s long term commitment towards Green network initiatives Airtel’s network transformation program ‘Project Leap’ is now focusing heavily on a series of fresh initiatives towards a greener environment and building sustainable network for the future.
Under Project Leap, Airtel will establish a world-class and future-ready network, while committing to bring down its carbon footprint emission by 70% by 2018.
Commenting on the company’s Green network initiatives, Bharti Airtel (India & South Asia) MD and CEO Gopal Vittal said, “As a responsible corporate we are concerned about the environment and have undertaken a host of initiatives to promote the use of greener technology. We are committed to bringing down the carbon emission by 70% and are taking all measures including bringing in state-of-art technology and partnering with the best globally. We have maintained strict adherence to Indian emission norms along with our company safeguard policy – thereby ensuring that emissions from network sites are safer than those from the light bulbs we use at homes. This is an important step towards our commitment to build a future ready and sustainable network.”
Additionally, Airtel has adopted a range of innovative methods like reducing power consumption by switching off unused capacity of its network sites during lean periods. It is also reducing power consumption and air wave emissions by optimizing signal transmission between the network and the device.
“We plan to adopt solar and new battery technologies in a big way and double our Green network sites by 2020. With a strategic focus on creating a green network, we remain committed to learning from the telecom industry’s best practices from across the globe. We are confident that our Green measures will work towards speeding up the development of a clean, safe and future ready network that will deliver a world-class service experience for our customers – now, and for years to come”, added Vittal.
The company has already installed roof top solar power capacity base of 770 KWp and plans to increase this capacity to 1 MWp in coming months and enhancing renewable energy wheeling by solar/wind/hydro on core sites – thereby consuming > 65 GWH/Annum of green energy. It is also investing heavily into state-of-the-art radio technology that will help optimize both power and space. Of the total network installed base, 60% has been deployed on a zero footprint architecture with no air conditioning thereby reducing dependency on diesel. More than 40,000 of these Green network sites are designed to operate largely on battery-hybrid, lithium-ion and solar hybrid solutions with very little diesel consumption. Apart from these measures Airtel maintains strict adherence to Indian Emission Norms along with its own safeguards that ensures emissions from its network sites are safe.
iWorld
Anirudh Ravichander and Universal Music India join forces to take South India’s sound to the world
The composer behind 13 billion streams launches Albuquerque Records with UMI as its exclusive global partner
MUMBAI: Universal Music India has struck an exclusive partnership with Albuquerque Records, the freshly minted independent label of singer-composer Anirudh Ravichander, in a deal that bets big on South India’s booming pop and hip-hop scene going global.
The arrangement, announced on 17 March, will see Universal Music India handle future pop and hip-hop releases by Anirudh himself, as well as artists signed to the new label. A first release is already in the pipeline for April, featuring Anirudh.
The numbers behind the man are hard to ignore. Debuting in 2012 with the viral sensation “Why This Kolaveri Di”, Anirudh has since clocked over 13 billion audio streams across more than 770 tracks, cementing his position as the No.1 South Indian artist on Spotify by total streams. His fingerprints are all over some of the Tamil film industry’s biggest musical moments, from Hukum and Vaathi Coming to Arabic Kuthu and the A23 Theme.
But Albuquerque Records is a different beast. Built for the non-film space, it is designed to nurture independent talent and champion the next wave of Indian pop voices. “Universal Music India’s leadership in pop and hip-hop made them the natural partner,” said Anirudh. “I’m excited to take independent voices to audiences around the world.”
Universal Music India’s chairman and CEO Devraj Sanyal was equally effusive. “Anirudh represents the future of Indian music, bold, original, and with enormous potential,” he said. “Identifying transformative talent is our superpower, and this partnership reflects that belief.”
Sanujeet Bhujabal, managing director of Universal Music India, framed the deal as more than a distribution play. “Albuquerque Records represents Anirudh’s bold artistic vision in the world of pop and hip-hop,” he said. “True to his legacy of innovation, this partnership is set to establish yet another landmark creative space, this time for the emerging world of iPop and beyond.”
For Universal Music India, the deal deepens a long-running push into South India’s four key language markets: Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu. The label already has regional imprints, film partnerships with Maddock Films and Excel Entertainment, and a growing non-film roster. Landing Anirudh, arguably the south’s most bankable music brand, is a statement of intent. South Indian music has the streams. Now it is coming for the world.
