Econet Wireless, Zimbabwe’s largest mobile phone operator, plans to expand its use of batteries from Tesla for its operations beyond providing backup power at base stations.

“We have plans to scale up the use of the batteries at Econet core network sites and other group installations,” the company said Thursday in an e-mailed response to questions.

The company didn’t provide details about the order for batteries it had placed with Palo-Alto, California-based Tesla.

Econet currently has 520 lithium-ion batteries that are used to provide backup power at its 1 300 base stations.

The telecommunications company said that use of the batteries had cut reliance on diesel-run generators by 75%.