Assessment of Energy Diversification and Sustainability of Telecommunication Industry in Zambia

Telecommunication industry in most sub-Saharan African countries like Zambia is highly dependent on grid and fossil fuels. However, grid power coverage in these countries is very low and mainly in urban areas and not very reliable. To keep the industry running continuously in both urban and rural areas fossil diesel generators are deployed, resulting into greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The use of fossil (diesel) to meet the daily energy needs for the telecommunication towers during load management periods and in zero electrification zones in rural areas does not only lead to environmental impact but also contribute to high operational expensive in telecommunication industry in most Sub-Saharan African countries. This has led to slow pace in expanding the industry especially in remote rural areas far from grid. Additionally, current removal of fuel subsidies by the Government of Zambia, climate change related effects such as droughts has led to low energy supply and Russian- Ukrainian war has exacerbated fuel prices. All these are currently impacting operation cost of telecommunication infrastructure. Therefore, this paper aims at assessing the energy diversification and sustainability of telecommunication industry in Zambia considering 4As (Accessibility, Acceptability, Availability and Affordability). A comparative assessment of telecommunication industry sustainability of Zambia with other SADC countries will be conducted using the 4As. Hence, the key in ensuring sustainability of energy on telecommunication industry is switching to renewable energy (RE) in Zambia. The main sources of RE which can be utilized for power generation in off-grid environments are Solar, Wind and Biomass.