Econet intensifies renewable energy adoption

ZIMBABWE’S largest telecommunication company, Econet Wireless, has committed to reducing its carbon emission footprint to minimise environmental impact by adopting renewable energy and reducing physical recharge cards.

The listed firm said it was installing solar base stations and powering its office sites and major switching centres with solar as it moves towards carbon neutrality.
“Energy consumption has a significant contribution to our environmental impact,” said Econet in its 2022 annual report released this week.
“We have put in place some initiatives to minimise the impact of our energy consumption. The first one focuses on managing anomalies. Another monitors energy consumption and its drivers to rectify issues as they arise, hence reducing our significant environmental impacts from energy consumption.”

Econet, which recorded inflation adjusted revenues of $87,3 billion in the full year to February 28, 2022, up from $57,9 billion in 2021, added that it invests in renewable energy sources and focus on extracting greater efficiencies from its infrastructure and facilities.
“We have adopted supplier environmental assessments with equipment manufacturers, product vendors and tower management partners in our technical infrastructure value chain to help us reduce energy use and GHG emissions,” said the company.
The leading telco, with over 14 million subscribers, has also adopted the use of LED lighting and the culture of switching off lights and air-conditioners, reducing energy requirements as part of its demand side sustainable energy management initiatives.
The business now makes use of a server virtualisation model that reduces both energy and space required for servers and purchasing the latest equipment, which has higher energy efficiency and lower power consumption on all new projects.
Econet has over the past few years been reducing physical recharge cards in the market for legal compliance and to reduce waste while promoting electronic recharge. This initiative has been integrated into the company’s waste management plan, working in collaboration with the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) to reduce physical recharging by 80 percent.
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