Green Technology Readiness of Telecommunication Firms in India: An Exploratory Study

This paradigm shift in telecommunications (telecom) from 1G to 4G and now moving towards 5G is changing the way of life and doing business resulting into 5.3 billion subscribers worldwide. India stands at second position with 1154.62 million mobile subscribers (Dec, 2021). With technology benefits, the carbon footprint comes as an environmental concern with increasing subscriber base. Telecom sector contributes 0.7% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. This is expected to increase with the addition of network components focusing on improved efficiency in next generation technologies and services. Literature have focused more on green information and communication technology (ICT) sector as a whole, with limited studies on green telecom which focuses only on energy efficient techniques. The readiness, acceptance, and usage of green technologies in the sector across value chain, thus becomes critical. This study measures the constructs of readiness of green technologies and discusses its conceptualization by telecom firms in Indian context. An exploratory qualitative approach is adopted. Open-ended semi-structured interviews and focus group with telecom experts in India, from service providers, solution providers and network & equipment manufacturers was conducted. The interview transcripts were analyzed using the technique of thematic content analysis. This research identified 4 different readiness constructs (Technology readiness, Financial readiness, Organizational readiness, and Regulatory readiness) with 15 concepts. These findings can help telecom firms in increasing their readiness levels for faster implementation of green technologies in India.