ZTE and GSMA Intelligence released a report, dubbed ‘The carbon-neutral mobile networks-Tacking the holistic energy challenge’, in which they tackle sustainability and how this is moving to become core business principle at telecom networks as the industry and its partners move to net zero.
Though climate change has been an issue of public profile for over 20 years, the strategic imperative for ‘going green’ in the private sector has risen to prominence over a short period. For telcos, part of this comes from the urgency to fight climate change, while part comes from the cost pressures associated with network investment outlays set against persistently low revenue-growth environments, according to the report.
The GSMA Intelligence Network Transformation Survey indicates that more than 90% of operators rate energy efficiency and sustainability as a priority. For telecoms vendors, energy efficiency will be a key competitive differentiator in the 5G era, at all levels of the stack.
The report also noted that artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as an effective means of optimizing power consumption in mobile networks. Operators and their vendors are incorporating AI into multiple levels of the stack, which can result in a system-level change in which energy is used in a more precise way where required.
AI is also being used in other network energy saving contexts, including predictive analysis to inform base station locations, which is key in rural or remote areas.
The report also highlighted that vendor solutions are increasingly incorporating renewable energy sources to power these kinds of remote base station. “ZTE, for example, has deployed its PowerPilot radio access kit into 30 mobile networks covering 900,000 sites, which it claims can save more than 800 million kWh of electricity annually and reduce carbon emissions by 400,000 tons.”
GSMA Intelligence and ZTE also noted the various sources of upward or downward pressure on power usage. Upward pressure includes 5G subscriber mix effect, rising average data usage and network densification, while downward pressure includes the retirement of 2G/3G networks, the re-farming of low-band spectrum, energy-efficient network equipment and renewables.
“5G subscriber growth and the consequent rise in data traffic are the most pressing factors. On current projections, the average customer on a mobile network will burn through 20 GB of data per month by 2025. However, because this is an overall average, it understates the true eventual load burden, which will rise as 5G becomes a larger share of the base,” the report adds.
“The report also explains that 5G networks will inevitably carry more data traffic than prior generations, meaning that the energy challenge for telecoms operators in reducing their carbon footprint is holistic across all facets of the business. “Notions of ‘green 5G’ or ‘sustainable 5G’, while attractive, do not speak to the full range of actions underway. For example, more energy-efficient network kit is as applicable to 4G as 5G networks. Similarly, sunsetting 2G and 3G networks – which are far less efficient – will help. Renewables are perhaps the most potent underlying change driver, specifically solar and wind to complement hydro.”
According to the report, European operators are furthest along in the use of renewable energy. For example, Vodafone, BT and Telefónica are all at or near 100% renewables for their European operations. The same is true of several Nordic groups.
Many operators have retired, or plan to retire, legacy networks and move customers up to higher speed service. By 2025, 2G and 3G customers will account for only 7% of the global base, compared to 20% now. The most common way of doing this appears to be shifting 2G/3G up to 4G, which accounts for around half of migrations. “This is pragmatic; most of the shifts come from operators in emerging markets where 5G rollouts are nascent or non-existent,” GSMA and ZTE said.
Aside from energy savings, decommissioning 2G and 3G networks has the benefit of releasing spectrum that can be re-harvested for newer networks.
“We know a lot is being done in distributed automation, the move to cloud, especially the usage of AI for network planning and network function optimization as well as refinements in air conditioning to smarter system and battery technology. All of these are really helping operators move towards carbon neutrality in their path to net zero,” said Tim Hatt, Head of Research and Consulting at GSMA Intelligence.
