Delta: Planning To Expand Its Reach in Indian Subcontinent and SAARC Region

What are the new products in the pipeline?
Delta is committed to provide innovative and energy efficient products. Environmental protection and energy conservation has been a long-standing mission at Delta and all Delta products are designed following the same. Telecom is one of the largest consumer of fuel and alone produces over 550 million tons of carbon emission every year.  To reduce this fuel consumption and to save the environment Delta is focusing on end to end Solution for Telecom operators which will not only reduce gensets usage but also will help operators to save the overall OPEX. We secure the vital operations of our customers by providing uninterruptible power in the most energy-efficient way possible. SolutionE is our new total energy efficiency concept. It brings together Delta’s most energy-efficient products. SolutionE revolutionizes the market standards. It brings energy efficiency to the system level with cutting-edge control and monitoring functionality featuring the most efficient power conversion modules, cooling options and renewable energy sources in the market. Some of the innovations in this direction are High efficiency Rectifiers, High End Controller, SMCS, NMS, Cooling Solution, Fast Charge batteries, Solar hybrid solutions etc.
What are the key demands of operators and telecom equipment vendors in the wake of rural expansion and launch of data centric products?
Approximately 60,000 rural telecom sites have no grid power access and only run on diesel generators 24/7. Among the cut throat competition, low ARPUs and tariff war, when tariffs drop while about 5 8% of the total revenue per call or revenue per minute is relayed to energy cost. From an operator standpoint, about two-thirds of the cost happens to be network costs. As 40% of towers stationed in rural areas and regions like UP and Bihar face power deficiency, pressure lies on diesel for operating equipment, running towers and cooling. Besides generating cost, diesel generates huge volume of carbon dioxide. All diesel or energy related costs are as high as 50% in rural areas, thereby increasing the cost of deploying sites in rural areas. Therefore, operators today are not in a position to rely just on the conventional power back-up systems. Operators are now moving on to green energy to cut site OPEX and to improve environment. The solar power initiative for cell towers especially in rural and unmanned BTS sites will help the operators to cut the use of noisy, smoke spewing diesel generators resulting in low OPEX. Current technology trends for back-up power solutions are green technology solutions, advanced and remote site monitoring, while focusing on reliability, ease of installation and low operational and maintenance cost. Telecom sector is warming up to green technologies for business competitiveness and cost efficiency. Companies are incorporating the latest technologies available across IT hardware and other segments to reduce their carbon footprint and go the green way. The lowering investment cost (CAPEX) and the increasing prices of fossil fuels are making the use of renewable energy sources for powering the Mobile base stations attractive.
We offer high quality photovoltaic system components & offer turnkey solutions for on-grid, off-grid photovoltaic applications for Telecom Industry, Rural Power and Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) applications. Our Stand-alone PV and Hybrid Power Systems are more than 95% energy efficient and can significantly reduce energy consumption and network operating cost. Hybrid energy solution for diesel and batteries has been significantly reduced the energy consumption in mobile networks outside the electricity grid, cutting network operating costs by up to 50 percent. A typical site consumes approximately 20,000 liters of diesel annually and this new solution reduces the need for fuel by 50 percent. With additional savings resulting from fewer fuel deliveries being made and from less maintenance being carried out, the total cost of ownership per site is lowered still further. Delta’s feature rich SMCS offers a cost-effective, comprehensive solution that can easily and effectively manage the evolving network and security infrastructure with centralized management.
What are your investment and expansion plans in SAARC region?
Delta has invested in its first green accredited power solutions manufacturing plant in Rudrapur . Delta’s new corporate office and R&D centre in Gurgaon is another green feather in Delta’s cap and will be shortly be inaugurated. Delta is planning to expand its reach in Indian subcontinent and SAARC region and to achieve this goal .Delta is already in the process to set up another manufacturing plant in SEZ of Chennai. This plant will meet the needs for Indian and International markets. All our factories are ISO 9001:2000, ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 180001:2007 certified. We have applied for TL9000 certification for Telecom and ISO17025:2005 for our Calibration laboratory in India. We want to be the forerunner in introducing solutions that make our customers’ life easier and create a clean and green environment. We will launching several new products and product lines in near future.
What are your R&D plans?
Delta is one of the world’s top 500 companies, to invest 5% of its revenue in R&D. Delta has 44 world class R&D centers across the globe out of which, two are in India in Gurgaon & Bangalore. These centers are working hand in gloves with our Global R&D centers & are supporting in customization of global products to suit Indian market needs. For instance, established in 1989, Delta’s Power Electronics Research Lab, located in North Carolina, USA, is continuously researching and creating new technologies for practical power supply applications.  With this group of high- caliber scientists and professionals, one can be sure that Delta is constantly looking after and ahead of its customer requirements, as well as the market’s requirement of information technology, telecommunication and networking systems. At Delta’s R&D centers, our experienced and highly qualified staff and engineers continue to  attempt new technologies, new product designs and new concepts to come up with innovative solutions with highly fruitful outcomes.
Delta is committed to helping the telecom industry reduce its carbon footprint through its commitment in the form of power management solutions for a greener telecom. Our R&D centers are focused on reducing the energy requirements of equipment at BTS sites through advanced energy saving solutions and intelligent & smart power management solutions. We are focusing on promoting alternate and renewable (solar and wind) energy solutions. These measures will reduce diesel consumption to a bare minimum, thereby drastically reducing operational costs, and at the same time reducing emissions and noise pollution.
What is your opinion about the current telecom regulatory regime in India?
India has entered the league of countries with the most-advanced telecommunication infrastructure after the industry was deregulated .The telecom sector in India has developed as a result of progressive regulatory regime. The telecom sector in India experienced a rapid growth over the past decade on account of regulatory liberalization, structural reforms and competition, making telecom one of the major catalysts in India’s growth story. From 2003 onwards the government has taken certain initiatives such as unified access licensing regime, reduced access deficit, introduction of calling party pays (CPP) and revenue sharing regime in ADC that has provided further. The government has been periodically implementing suitable fiscal and promotional policies to boost domestic demand and to create volumes for the industry. To help telecos to reach the rural customers, Govt. have set up a USO fund. This fund shares the site infrastructure installation cost with telcos.This another good initiative impetus to the sector is the shared infrastructure. At present, the government offers 30% subsidy for renewable energy. The cap of 100 sites per operator is however, considered quite low for the present 3,00,000 sites. Moreover, subsidies remain unsustainable in the long run. The average revenue per user in rural areas is insignificant while operators are investing money into these areas. For this reason, operators and infrastructure providers face the pressure of going green. The government must concentrate on production and employment of clean energy solutions, shaping the course of green telecom.
What are your innovative products in the green space?
Telecommunication infrastructure is always on the look-out for improved energy performance and uninterrupted power is an absolute requirement, but the traditional solutions may be quite power-hungry. We felt that we needed to come up with ways to decrease both capital and operating expenses for our customers. A telecom system built with state-of-the-art power modules, allow the system designer to reduce its size, decrease dissipated power, meet the power demands of high-performance digital circuits, and reduce the cost of power. Delta is continuously working on reducing the per watt size of the rectifier and increasing the power efficiency & density. Our state of the art Site Monitoring Control System (SMCS) provides voltage stabilization, automatic mains failure switch, DG health check up logic, DG fuel saving logic & distribution and alarm panels. SMCS enables high-performance businesses to consolidate and simplify the management of their network infrastructure to increase security, reduce cost and realize operational gains. Delta’s feature rich SMCS offers a cost-effective, comprehensive solution that can easily and effectively manage the evolving network and security infrastructure with centralized management. Delta’s recently launched hybrid site solution brings together Delta’s telecom power products, aims to revolutionize market standards by enabling significant direct and indirect energy savings. Under the concept, RenE solutions feature a modular power supply concept that can use any combination of solar power, wind turbines, mains power, diesel generators and fuel cells, which may reduce payback time as well as electricity bills  for over 50%. Further, Delta offers complete end to end solutions from design to installation of the complete set of power solutions, which helps in optimizing power consumption and reducing power costs drastically. Delta has successfully implemented its Solutions based on Indoor, Outdoor, Hybrid Solution & Network Management application.
Have green initiatives of telcos started paying off?
The awareness for green energy has come very recently & telcos are working aggressively to start implementing green initiatives. Both Government and operators are considering renewable power systems as the best power back-up source. The cost of producing solar energy on a large scale is quite low. With single towers in rural areas, the question of viability surfaces since Government subsidizes up to 200 units of solar panels. Moreover, operational challenges emerge, making sense upon consideration of yearly benefits. In addition, you can save about 40-50% by combining solar and energy management products.  It won’t be too long when these power systems will become the first choice for everyone. We are pioneer in designing low cost & good quality solutions which contribute effectively on reducing carbon footprint. Some of our prestigious customers are enjoying the benefits already.
What are the new green initiatives in Delta?
At Delta green does not mean the green logos. We really believe in doing a sincere contribution. Environmental protection and energy conservation has been a long-standing mission at Delta. We are committed to develop promote Green technologies to reduce the impact on the environment of carbon emissions. As the world’s largest Power Solution Company in the areas of Telecom Power Supply and Renewable Energy, we always strive to provide energy efficient and environment friendly products. Our leading power management and conversion technology and energy efficient power solution has helped in reducing the carbon footprint and saving energy. We have highest power density products available with very high efficiencies thereby reducing the power losses to minimum, Site monitoring & control unit, Fast charge batteries, NMS are few other initiatives that help reduce CO2 emission significantly by way of reducing utility power consumption, reduction of Diesel consumption, reduction of OPEX at unmanned sites through e-monitor solution. Even 1% improvement in the energy Effienciency of power supplies would equate to the power generated in one year by a nuclear plant, or one gigawatt.So, every percentage of efficiency improvement by Delta means substantial energy savings and reduction CO2 emissions for the world.
We are offering 360 telecom site management services and solutions, so that energy savings are optimized at all levels from site Design stage to products ,to installation and finally monitoring the site for the OPEX optimization and managibility.This solution has helped the several telecom companies to bring down the site OPEX by more than 50 percent.This number is substantial , keeping in view the new and old telecom sites in India. With the Energy audits and Benchmarking the consumption pattern, auditing the performance of the power supply / DG sets at the cell sites, generating energy efficiency reports, we can help the operators with a customized solution for their legacy sites too. On operations front, Our advanced software solutions will help operators to monitor and control diesel consumption and fuel theft in remote  areas, therefore adding up to more energy savings and lesser carbon emissions.